Company of Thieves
by blahblahblah97
Summary: 'When you're a thief, there are rules. Don't go after the same place twice. Don't contact your team for three months after a job. Trust no one. And never, ever fall in love. These are the rules. And I, Caroline Forbes, am breaking all of them.' ThiefAU. When tragedy strikes and Caroline has three weeks to do the impossible, she has to rely on Klaus Mikaelson and his team to help.
1. Chapter 1

**Company of thieves**

AN:Hey guys! Clodagh here, and I'm back with a not so new brand new story! I say this because I've actually had it all mapped out and started working on it over a year ago, and the past few months have simply been a matter of writing filler bits in the middle! As we all know I'm terrible at not updating for months because I don't have anything written-never fear, because this entire story is completely finished, so you'll get it once a week! Seeing as it is now Tuesday we shall receive a new chapter every Tuesday! This is an AU, not set in the vampire world, just the characters! I have a massive playlist for this fanfic too, so I'll probably write a playlist chapter at the end of this fanfic, but if any songs inspired certain chapters I'll put them either here if they aren't spoilery or at the bottom of the chapter if they are! I hope you guys enjoy and please tell me what you think because this is really my goodbye to The Vampire Diaries as I don't watch it anymore and don't see myself writing any more for it. So Company of Thieves is my last hoorah! Have a great day!

SONG RECS: Run by Kill it Kid, Too Close by Alex Clare, Wonderland by Natalia Kills, and Up in Flames by She Wants Revenge.

_People in their right minds never take pride in their talents."-__**To Kill A Mockingbird**_

When you're a thief, there are rules. Don't go after the same place twice. Don't contact your team for three months after a job. Trust no one. And never, ever fall in love. These are the rules.

And I, Caroline Forbes, am breaking all of them.

It was to be a simple job. A practice run, if you will. The security was lacking, the systems weren't very hi tech, and there weren't many cameras. Caroline knew for a fact that there was a game on tonight, and when there was a game on, there was a game of rock paper scissors to see who has to go patrol. After the game of rock paper scissors, bickering and bargaining ensue, lasting at least twenty minutes before they all get distracted by the game again, before realising that someone has yet to patrol. This gives a thirty minute window to get in, get what you desire, and get out of there. As long as you know which corridors they patrol in which order, have a way to get in from the roof, and are able to take out the cameras, you're fine. Caroline was sorted for this job.

She had her in.

She had the patrol plan and the floor plan memorized.

She had her escape route.

Her techy friend had gained access to the footage of that particular skylight and room, and had set it on a loop. No one would be able to tell any different, and definitely not guards who would merely glance at that screen. She had also disabled the roof sensitivity, the skylight alarm, the floor alarm and the trip lasers.

Damn, Caroline loved her techy friend. She owed that girl a takeaway.

It would be easy street.

Or at least, that's what she thought.

She managed to get onto the roof by being brave, daring and stupid by climbing up and ridiculously tall tree, nimbly tip-toeing across a thinning branch and made a leap for the rooftop, managing to swipe one arm and leg over the ledge. She grunted as she pulled herself up. She scurried quickly across the roof to the third skylight on the left, dropping her bag to the roof floor beside her. She dug around and quickly set up the harness, her hands expertly tying the required knots and levering the rope so it would be pulled taunt so she wouldn't hit the floor too fast. Leaving her kit on the ground and pulling on her black gloves and slipping her lock kit into her small tool kit tied around her small waist, and clipped herself into the harness and lowered herself down by using the remote. She stopped just short of the floor, and a voice burst out in her right ear. "Be careful here, Caroline. Swing a little to the right, there's a trick trip point on the floor where you're about to step," the voice warned. Caroline unclipped the harness and held onto the rope, swinging herself lightly. "I thought you said you'd taken care of it, Bonnie!" she whispered indignantly.

Bonnie clucked. "It's not my fault! Some systems backup and very fast!"

Caroline huffed. "Keep moving, we're on a tight schedule," her friend warned.

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde grumbled. She nimbly darted forward, avoiding the walls and artefacts'.

"Not too fast!" she friend chastised quickly, and Caroline could see her in her mind's eye, hunched over her computer and tapping furiously on the key board. Caroline halted abruptly. "Be careful, the-"

"lasers."

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Bonnie," Caroline said through gritted teeth, "some of the lasers are back on."

Caroline could practically hear Bonnie scowling. "That can't be right, I disabled them. Unless-"

"Never mind that," Caroline interrupted quickly. "How long do I have before they all come on?"

"My guess?" Bonnie typed on her keyboard again. "Maybe six minutes, at most." There was a pause as another laser activated. "Make that four."

Caroline groaned, and rocked herself back and forth on her feet, bending over and leaning forward slightly, and her mind zoomed through her different options.

"Bon," she said slowly, "this will go by fast. We're getting a blast from the past."

Bonnie spoke exasperatedly, "Caroline, you wouldn't try-"

But it was too late. Caroline had already launched forward, on to her hand, splitting her legs in the air and twisting to avoid a particularly sharp laser. Her leg slide to the floor and she pulled herself through a low beam, then stepped carefully over one higher up just after that, narrowly avoiding her head coming into contact with a laser and blowing the whole operation. She danced, hopped and twirled her way around the beams, using routines she hadn't in so long.

She cartwheeled around the corner, to the safe zone where the valuables were. Caroline knew that the floor pressure was off, as there was already someone there, working on HER FABERGE EGG. Caroline's jaw dropped and her eyes bulged in shock as she took in the man in from of her. She could only see his back, of course, as he worked at the lock. He hadn't appeared to have noticed her. "If you're here to catch me, you aren't doing a very good job of it," the man said calmly with a British accent, it was almost cheerful, Caroline thought. Caroline huffed. All her hard work! All Bonnie's hard work! HER EGG. That was supposed to be hers! "How long did it take you?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. The man in question turned around in surprise. None of the guards on shift were women, and this voice was definitely female. He turned around, and they both eyed each other warily. He was good looking, Caroline admitted begrudgingly. Sandy blonde curls, moss green eyes, tall and obviously VERY toned...wait, no, damnit! He's stealing HER EGG. It doesn't matter if he's hot. She didn't miss him checking her out either, and then he replied. "Six minutes." Caroline furrowed her brow. "And I must say, love that was a VERY impressive show back there." Caroline glared at him, moving closer.

"That 'show' was only necessary because YOU put the lasers back up!" she snapped. "It was supposed to be easy in, and now I'm losing time, so excuse me." She barged forward towards the egg, careful to not touch the glass. "Bobcat?" she asked Bonnie, agitated. "Is it still off?"

"C, what is going on down there? I swear I didn't see him there! Someone-wait- what- someone is messing with my feed!" she cried, indignant.

Caroline whirled around to the man beside her, who was looking at her, amused. "Stop it!" she hissed at him, then spoke to Bonnie again. "Is it off?"

"Yes, it is. But be quick, we don't have long."

Moss green eyes stared at her. "Stop what, sweetheart?"

"Whoever you have messing with my feed," she hissed through gritted teeth as she pushed him out of the way and got to work at picking the lock of the case. She pressed her ear to it, waiting to hear the click. "I don't have anyone 'messing' with your feeds. I never instructed it," he replied sourly. Caroline scoffed.

"What, you can't control your people? Or they have no loyalty to you?"

The man chuckled darkly. "Something like that."

"Well, that's the difference between us," she said and grinned triumphantly as she heard the click. "The people I work with- we're loyal, and we trust each other on jobs. We can work together. I don't have to buy, bribe or blackmail loyalty, none of us do," she ranted and reached her hand into the case and held her breath as she gently but firmly grasped the egg. Caroline carefully lifted it out and grinned triumphantly, but then frowned as she examined it closer. "Wait- this isn't the real thing!" she cried indignantly, and whirled to her companion, who had disappeared. "Damnit!" she whisper yelled, hating herself for being so stupid.

"What is it?" Bonnie asked in her ear. "What's going on?"

"We were conned," Caroline said shortly. "It's over, we're out of here, Bobcat," she explained using Bonnie's nicknames. They all had them; it was safer in this business. Caroline ran her hand over her face. "All that work," she muttered angrily as she put the fake egg in the case, locking it again, and making her way back out to where her harness was hanging down from the skylight. "who are you," she murmured as she rose into the light.

In the car park, the man was muttering angrily in to his own ear piece. "Damnit, Kol! What did I tell you about sticking to the plan?"

"Sorry, Nik, I've always been a rebel, you know that," the voice boomed in his ear. "My question is-who the hell was THAT?" Kol asked. "Because boy was she flexible."

"Shut it, Batman," Klaus said irritably.

She knew he was following her. It wasn't hard to tell, his moves were sloppy, his posture, hair cut and stature gave him away. Caroline smirked to herself as she passed a jewellers, not even turning her gaze to it. She had bigger fish to fry. Her blonde curls hung around her shoulders as she turned to glance back as she entered the mouth of an alley in her favourite city, Chicago. He was there, of course, and she gave him a coy smile before entering the alley, knowing he'd follow her. She stopped about half way in, hidden from sight, and she leaned against the wall, her body arched forward.

"You were following me," Caroline stated. The man grinned lecherously at her.

"Why wouldn't I? A pretty little thing like you. And you wanted me to." Caroline giggled and he moved closer to her. "My mother warned me to stay away from strange men," she giggled playfully. The man was now a mere foot in front of her, his hands on the wall either side of her head. "Well let me tell you something, Caroline," he whispered in her ear, "they were right." At this, Caroline promptly lifted her knee and connect it with his groin sharply, shoving him back, before driving her pointed heeled boot into his shin. The man grunted, surprised, and lunged for her. What the goon didn't seem to realise, however, was that Caroline was a lot smarter, a lot more flexible and a lot more angry than he was.

Whilst he lunged clumsily, she reached up to the fire escape and pulled herself half way up, swinging her legs out to kick him in the chest, then snapping her foot up to connect with his jaw. To his credit, he simply rolled his jaw, and moved forward, but was met with a sharp shock and he crumpled to the ground just in time to see the blonde she devil slip a black rectangular object into her pocket. She strode forward and put his foot to his back and yanking one of his arms back, popping his shoulder and twisting it back painfully.

"Who sent you?" she demanded, and he remained silent. Caroline scoffed. "Listen jackass, I don't have time for this. Who sent you?"

"Maybe I came after you myself," the thug taunted, and she barked out a laugh.

"Please, you don't have two brain cells to rub together. Who sent you and how do you know my name?" she demanded forcefully.

"Oh, we know a lot more than your name, Caroline Forbes, daughter of Elizabeth Forbes, grand thief of Chicago. Miss Mystic Fall's, ex chair of the prom committee, head cheerleader. Do gooder, perfectionist, team leader, and very flexible. We know your name, your team, where you come from, where you live. So you see, Caroline Forbes, we don't just know your name. We know everything."

Caroline stood up straighter, keeping her grip on the man. He knew everything. Not many people know her actual name, fewer know where she comes from. Caroline mentally shook herself, and leaned closer to his ear. "I'm not a patient person. Now, I'm only going to ask one more time. Who is we and why were you after me?" she snapped in a cold voice. She heard his cold chuckle. "I have a message. He says he wants it back. He wants what is his back."

"Who? Who wants it back?" Caroline asked desperately, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Big Vinnie, of course!" the man said joyously. "Vincent Moroney. Ring any bells, sweet cheeks?"

Caroline huffed. "I don't have IT, whatever it is. I can't help you there."

The man tutted. "The boss ain't gonna like that, girlie. He ain't gonna like that at all," he warned.

"Well you can tell 'Big Vinnie' that I don't have what he's looking for," she said flippantly, "and I'm not scared of him."

The thug whistled lowly. "And that is your mistake, Blondie." Caroline bristled, that name sounded so foreign coming from this strangers lips. "Okay, we're done here," she snapped, and quickly pressed the taser to his side again and slipped away, leaving him convulsing on the ground. Once she was out of range and far enough away, Caroline pulled out a phone and hit speed dial.

"Stef?" Caroline asked in a small voice as she strode down the street, "Can I stay with you tonight? Something happened, we need to talk." With that, Caroline shut the phone, tossed it into her bag and shoved her hands in her pockets, bracing herself against the harsh Chicago Autumn winds.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey guys! First off-wow, I am so shocked and happy with the response that this story has gotten with only one chapter! I know I'm not one of the most well-known writers in the fandom, but I'm so glad you guys like the story and love the characters as much as I do! An announcement- I've spoken to 'my people' and it was decided that-as readers- it would be preferred to have TWO chapters a week instead of one! So there will be a new chapter every TUESDAY and FRIDAY! So, on to it we go! This is really a background chapter, but I promise the story itself will be starting very, VERY soon! Enjoy and tell me what you think!**

SONG RECS: When I Was Younger by Liz Lawrence, Teen Idle by Marina and The Diamonds, Letters From The Sky by Civil Twilight and Sons and Daughters by Allman Brown and Liz Lawrence.

And I, I'll wrap myself 'round your heart, I'll be the walls of this heart

And I, I'll keep light on, to call you back home

And I'll build a fire, you fetch the water and I'll lay the table

And in our hearts, we still pray for sons and daughters

And all those evenings out in the garden, with red red wine

These quiet hours turning to years

And it's all to come, for now we're still young

Just building our kingdom, but it's all to come

**-Allman Brown and Liz Lawrence, 'Sons and Daughters'**

Giuseppe Salvatore was proud of three things.

His children, his boats, and his business.

He had three children. Two boys, Damon and Stefan, and one girl, Caroline.

No, not like that. I know what you're thinking. How Caroline came to Giuseppe's daughter...well, that's a story.

_Caroline ambled along the street in Atlanta, where she was visiting. Well, more like escaping to. She couldn't stand being in Mystic Falls any longer, not after her father was brutally murdered trying to stop a robbery. Also, people were going to start to notice her new little habit, and she couldn't have that. Her mom was too busy with work to even notice. Atlanta was good, big enough for a girl from Mystic Falls to get lost in, but still feel secure by herself. She bumped into a middle aged man, and apologised without stopping. As she kept walking, she felt someone bumped into her on the next road. She nodded as they apologised. _

_Bumping into to people wasn't out of the ordinary, the sidewalks were small and it was a busy enough town. She was passing through a park aimlessly when she heard a voice behind her. "I believe you have something of mine," the voice didn't sound angry, in fact it sounded rather cheerful. Caroline turned around slowly, to see a middle aged man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. This was the same man she had bumped into. "I'm sorry?" Caroline asked, playing dumb. "I said I believe you have something of mine," he repeated joyously. Caroline felt her face go red. She'd been caught, damnit! How was she going to get out of this one? Caroline's lip trembled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the man's wallet. "Listen mister, I'm really sorry. Please don't call the cops, I promise I'll-hey, that's my wallet!" she cried indignantly. _

"_And that's my wallet," he said, amused. Caroline crossed her arms. _

"_It's rude to look at a ladies things," she huffed. The man chuckled._

"_It's also illegal to steal, my dear," he spoke as he threw her wallet to her. Caroline caught it automatically, eyeing him up suspiciously. "But it's only illegal if you get caught." He winked at her, and Caroline caught a flash of her I.D. as he lifted it up to read. "Hey!" She protested. The man ignored her protests. "So, who do we have here..." he mused, and started listing off information about her. "Caroline Forbes, from Mystic Falls, Virginia. Forbes...Forbes...where have I heard that name?"_

_Caroline stiffened. "It was on the news, yes, I'm sure it was...ah yes-oh." He finished as realisation set. "William 'Bill' Forbes, tragically killed being a hero in attempted bank robbery. Leaves behind ex wife, Elizabeth, partner, step daughter, and daughter, Caroline," she whispered, averting his gaze. Her words sounded familiar, as if the girl had learnt off a news headline. That's probably what she had done. "My name is Giuseppe, Giuseppe Salvatore," he said, feeling the need to give this lost girl something to hang on to. "Is this the first time you've done this, Miss Forbes?" Giuseppe asked curiously._

_Caroline considered him. "No," she replied eventually, "it isn't."_

"_Mainly pick-pocketing, is it?"_

"_So far, yes. I usually give it back."_

"_Why?"_

"_I don't like stealing off innocent people," she replied earnestly. Giuseppe looked at her closely. "You any good?"_

_Caroline rolled her eyes at him. "If I wasn't, I'd be in jail, wouldn't I?"_

_Giuseppe laughed. "Oh, I like you, Miss Forbes."_

_Caroline blurted out "Caroline,"_

_Giuseppe smiled. "Caroline it is."_

_Caroline awkwardly handed him back his wallet, and shoved her hands in her pockets. Giuseppe watched her. "What age are you?" he asked suddenly, having made his mind up on the decision he had considered since he met this sharp girl. Caroline blinked. "Eighteen," she answered cautiously._

"_My youngest son is eighteen," he said thoughtfully. _

"_Ah," Caroline answered lamely, not knowing what he was getting at._

"_Tell me Caroline, would you like to make a deal with me?" Giuseppe asked._

_Caroline looked at him, puzzled. "A deal?" she asked._

"_A deal," Giuseppe repeated. _

"_It depends," Caroline said slowly._

_Giuseppe paced in front of her, then came closer to her. "I have a...family business, so to speak. As you can see...I'm like you. On a larger scale, of course," he smirked, and Caroline's brain clicked. "But, I have a problem. My youngest son, Stefan, well...he's becoming a bit of an issue. He has a problem, you see. A drink problem," he said in a pained voice. Caroline gave him a small, understanding smile. "His older brother, Damon...well, he isn't any help to Stefan. I need someone...bright, innocent, and smart, to guide him and get him through this." Caroline stared at him._

"_You-you want me?" _

"_Yes, you'd be perfect, I think. Please, try," Giuseppe pleaded. "There would be something in it for you. I'm willing to take you in and teach you," he added. Caroline considered this. _

"_Alright," she agreed, deciding to take a chance. If worse comes to worst, she knew how to handle a gun. "I'll do it. Tell me what I'm working with."_

_Giuseppe clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! First off, ehem, your mother...?" _

"_Is a sheriff," Caroline confirmed, "and she knows I'm going away. I said I'm going to 'discover myself'," she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "She won't care if I'm gone," she said confidently, and Giuseppe smiled sadly. _

"_Sounds like you're ready to go,"_

"_I am."_

And that was that.

Caroline entered the family quickly, providing the feminine touch .it had lacked since Stefan and Damon's mother had died. Giuseppe took her under his wing, teaching her everything she needed to know. Damon taught her to fight, and she gladly took all her anger out on him. They bickered constantly, neither too sure of the other, but in the end, family doesn't end with blood.

"_What the hell is your problem with me?" Caroline demanded in the midst of one of their regular fights, a few months after Caroline had joined them. They were now located in New York, but like most thieves, they had to keep moving regularly. "You're fucking annoying, Blondie, that's my problem," Damon snapped. _

"_Bullshit and you know it, Salvatore. You have a problem with me, and I won't take you being a dick to me for no reason!" she yelled, frustrated._

"_You're stealing my brother, alright?!"Damon hollered at her. Caroline blinked._

"_What?"_

"_Don't play dumb, Blondie. You wormed your way in here, and stole him from me," he yelled._

_Caroline scoffed. "I'm HELPING HIM, you idiot! Giuseppe brought me here to help him. You know that."_

"_I'M his brother, it should be me!"_

_Caroline whirled to him. "By all means, do! I'm not stopping you! You won't go never him, let alone help him, Damon!" _

"_I can't!" he said desperately._

"_WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T?!" Caroline screamed exasperatedly._

"_Because it was me! I was the one that started this! I taught him to drink away his feelings! I didn't know it would get this far. I fucked him up. It's my fault. It's all my fault," he said helplessly. Caroline looked at him, and she saw a lost little boy, who knew he'd done something bad but wasn't quite sure how to fix it. She sighed, all her anger was gone. Damon sunk into a chair nearby, and put his head in his hands. Caroline sunk to her knees gently beside him. "Hey," she said gently, and he didn't respond. "Damon," she tried again; and again no response. Caroline yanked his arm after from his face, and snapped "hey, listen to me."_

_Damon glanced at her. "Stefan...isn't in a good place, it's true. But he's getting better, Damon. He'll be fine. But he needs us. He needs YOU. You can't spend your time feeling guilty and blaming yourself, there is no point. You just need to move on, get over it, and be here for him now," she spoke firmly, holding his gaze. "You need to get over yourself, Damon. Let it go," she said gently. Damon looked at her, his piercing blue eyes considering her. "You're not so bad, Blondie," he remarked finally. Caroline smirked._

"_You ain't so bad yourself." She flung her towel over her shoulder and picked up her gym bag. "Where are you going?" Damon questioned._

"_The gym. Boxing session," Caroline replied. Damon scoffed._

"_Please, Blondie. Like they can teach you anything. Come on, I'll train you." With that he left the room. Caroline grinned to herself, and followed after him. _

Caroline helped Stefan. It took a long time, but she did. She taught him restraint and self-control. In turn, he taught her how to plan. He taught her to be able to get out of any situation. He also taught her an important lesson, that you can't hate everyone. You have to be able to trust some people.

Then Elena came along.

Both brothers fell for her instantly, of course. She was beautiful, with her doe eyes and long straight brown hair, and her innocent ways. And to add to it, she was in the business. She was a contact Caroline had acquired, who collected various bits and bobs, as she called them. They tried to keep it friendly of course, the Salvatore brothers, but as the both got more and more enthralled with Elena Gilbert, their relationship was strained. After a while of going back and forth in her decision between the two, Elena felt so wracked with guilt over what she had done to the brothers, she broke it off with both of them, breaking four hearts in the process.

Damon and Stefan's, who felt like they both loved this girl so much and equally loved and hated their brother.

Caroline, whose heart hurt for her brothers and for her friend.

Her own, as she wasn't able to handle all that love in her heart.

But still, they all moved on. Eventually, Damon drowned out the pain with other women, convincing himself that it was enough. Stefan decided to write, taking up the hobby he had abandoned years ago, and threw himself into his work and Caroline, distracting himself with whatever he could until he didn't need distracted anymore. Caroline worked to improve the bond between them, bringing Damon home when he was hopelessly drunk and dragging Stefan to concerts when they had the time.

They were dysfunctional, but they were family.

It soon became clear that Caroline excelled in her training, both mental and physical. She soon was leaps and bounds past Stefan and Damon, who were definitely more braze that brains. She was soon organising her own missions, gathering contacts and building the Salvatore's empire. She had a knack of going after those who took from the innocent, who couldn't defend themselves. She had it down to a T. Giuseppe often joked that it was the prom committee that gave her the organisational skills, and being Miss Mystic Falls that gave her the killer streak. Caroline had to admit, it came in handy being a perfectionist and so organised, it meant that nothing would go wrong, unlike Damon, who was impulsive and wouldn't think things through, and Stefan, who would be biased and too kind. All bets were off when Caroline played, and that gave her a ruthless streak.

It was obvious that Giuseppe would choose her to take over when he decided to retire and sail around the world. It would be his last adventure, he said, before he went. Each of his children received a letter a year later, saying by the time you read this, I will be gone. Giuseppe had failed to tell them that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and he wasn't going to make it. It would be too hard to say goodbye to my children, the letter said.

It was then it really hit home these three young adults resorted right back to being the little lost children they once were.

Caroline refused to let him die without carrying on his legacy. She wasn't going to fall apart, it was Giuseppe that put her back together again after her own father died and in memory of him, she wouldn't fall apart over him. He would loathe that.

Damon mourned for all those times instead of yelling and screaming at his father, he could have told him he loved him and he was sorry he was such a disappointment, and he was sorry, so sorry. Damon took it the hardest.

Stefan thanked his father silently for all the times he didn't give up on him, and saved him from the dark pit of despair he was in. He swore to himself and his father that he would protect Damon and Caroline until his dying day.

They adapted. They survived. They conquered.

Giuseppe Salvatore had acquired a large sum of money over the years, and his children were able to live comfortably, very comfortably, jetting all over the world for different jobs. One of their favourite apartments, though, was one they owned in Chicago, and that's exactly where they were. Caroline usually stayed by herself, as she just sick and tired of hearing Damon and his different girls. She shuddered at the thought. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Stef? Dick?" She called out their nicknames.

"In here, Care!" called a feminine voice Caroline instantly recognised as Elena. Caroline grinned and bounded into the kitchen. "Lena!" she squealed as launched on to her friend. Elena hugged her friend back, laughing. "Jeez Care, calm down. It was only three months ago you saw me," she teased. Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Where are my boys?" she asked jokingly.

"Stefan's in the bathroom, and Damon is..." she trailed off and motioned upstairs. Caroline made a face, "Ew," Elena laughed.

"Tell me about it."

Caroline sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar next to her friend. "Is everything ready for tomorrow?" she asked, getting down to business. Elena had asked her to help her with a job, and Caroline happily agreed. It wasn't very often that the girls got to do a job together. It would be easy, a quick in and out job. Elena nodded. "All set. The equipment's ready, the vault is prepped and secure for this baby. You know what to do, right?" she enquired. Caroline nodded. "Yes, Lena, I know what to do. Should be easy enough," Elena smiled.

"Yeah, it should be."

Stefan entering the room, and stood in the door, arms folded. "Caroline," he greeted. His face was grim. "Care to explain?"

Caroline looked at him, confused, then mentally slapped herself. She was so caught up in seeing Elena that she'd completely forgotten the reason she'd come over here in the first place. She smiled sheepishly at him. "I, um, was kind of attacked?"

Elena dropped her magazine. "What do you mean you were 'kind of attacked'?" she asked, alarmed.

"Well, he cornered me, but in fairness, I did most of the attacking. It was more of an ambush," she said thoughtfully, "but I saw him coming."

Stefan frowned. "Someone attacked you for no reason?"

Caroline scoffed. "Please, Stefan, if it was, I'm a big girl, I could handle myself. I'm twenty one," she reminded him. "It...it was someone with a message," she admitted.

"A message?" Stefan enquired.

Caroline shivered. "Yeah, a message. Someone thinks I took something from them, and they want it back."

"Who?" Elena asked curiously.

Caroline stayed silent. "Caroline?" Stefan questioned.

"Caroline," Elena repeated.

Caroline sighed. "Moroney."

Elena's eyes bulged out of her head, and Stefan put his hands over his face and dragged them down, his face paling. "You're telling me that VINCENT MORONEY thinks you've stolen something from him?"

"And he wants you to get it back?" Elena asked, astonished.

"Yes," Caroline said simply. "But I didn't do it, so it's okay."

There was a silence after that. "Caroline..." Stefan started.

"What?" Caroline snapped. "I didn't do it, Stefan! I didn't steal anything from Moroney; I don't have a death wish."

Elena's brown eyes were full of concern. "I don't like this, Care. You're on his radar now. Will you be safe?"

Caroline shrugged. "I didn't do it. Not much they can do, if I didn't do it. They...they know everything, though," she said, looking at Stefan. "That's why I asked to stay here," she said, embarrassed. Stefan squeezed her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay, Care. This is as much your home as ours." Caroline smiled gratefully at him.

"We'll have to be more careful, though," Stefan said thoughtfully. "If they know everything, we'll have to limit our contact with people, move quickly." He turned to look at Elena. "You too, Elena. You'll have to be careful, too. They probably know your connection. I don't want you getting hurt," he said worriedly. Everyone around that table knew that he was being purely platonic, and there was no spark there. Elena grinned at him, grabbed her purse and went round to his side of the table and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Don't make me sorry I broke up with you," she teased good naturedly. At that, Damon strolled into the room.

"What was that, Gilbert? Finally make up your mind about my baby brother and I?" he smirked. Elena rolled her eyes. "Of course. You know I only have eyes for you."

Damon shrugged. "What can I say? The ladies love me."

"I don't," Caroline shot at him, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"That's because she has common sense," Stefan quipped. Elena giggled.

"Honestly, you three. I don't know whether to be happy or feel deranged because I'm friends with you lot," she chuckled fondly. Her heels clacked as she made her way to the door.

"I'm going to my hotel now, mwuah!" she blew an air kiss at them. "See you tomorrow, Caroline! I'll meet you there!" she added, and just before the apartment door opened, she paused, and yelled back "I think I'll go with happy."

"Yeah, me too," Damon hollered back.

After the door closed with a slam, Damon turned to them. "Steffy, Blondie, what did I miss?"

Stefan and Caroline exchanged a look.

"You might want to sit down," Caroline said eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey! So you guys are going to love me or hate me-scratch that, probably just hate me for this chapter. :D I will admit now it is a REALLY long one, possibly the longest of the story, but while you may see where it could break-the second half didn't fit into the next chapter, it just wasn't working. And I don't want to make it another chapter because I'm determined to keep it at 20. So basically-make yourself a cup of tea, curl up on a comfortable chair, and maybe-just maybe-half a packet of tissues on standby. As per usual, enjoy and leave a review! I'll be getting back to reviewers after this is posted! Have a great day!**

SONG RECS: Will be found at the end of the chapter.

Caroline entered the room kept for her in the Salvatore's apartment. It had the bare essentials of a room, a bed, a night stand, one of her laptops, a wardrobe which had some of her clothes of different varieties. She glanced at the invitation on her night stand. It was an invitation to a gallery event/ auction. Basically, events like this were prime opportunities for a thief to go, judge who has the most money and is the biggest headed, who they are and what to steal from them. Thieves call it fun. Others...well, they'd call it insane. She had decided to fly solo on this one. She needed to pull herself together. She had no reason to be scared of Moroney. She would dress up, go out and have fun. Or as much fun as one can have at these things. With one final glance at the invite, she pranced over to the wardrobe and decided on a dress and her best Jimmy Choo's. A girl always has to have a good pair of Choo's, she concluded. Fluffing her waved hair up one more time, she grabbed the invitation off her night stand, grabbed her clutch and left the room, flicking off the lights as she went.

X.x.X

Caroline slowly circulated the room, looking at all the pieces before the auction started. She alternated between looking at the pieces and looking at the people, noting those who had the most pages marked. She was passing by a few paintings when she stopped and moved back a few steps to stare at one piece. It was abstract, angry and dark, with dark greens, blues and muted greys throughout the piece. She couldn't take her eyes off it. "I hope you aren't planning on stealing that," a voice behind her remarked. Caroline bristled, because she knew that voice. That was that bastard that took her Faberge egg. "Not in a room full of people. I don't think it would fit in my clutch," she replied sarcastically, not turning to look at him. "Besides, it's not really my thing. It's not a Monet, that's for sure."

She could feel him standing beside her. "Then what is it?" he asked, amused.

"A snowflake," she decided. "Not my thing. Not the best I've seen. Neither is the selection in this gallery. It's rather second rate, compared to the best, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know, love," he answered, "but I'm insulted."

Caroline scoffed. "Why would you be insulted, egg stealer?"

"Because, sweetheart," he said coolly as he moved to stand directly behind her, his chest brushing her back as he whispered in her ear. "I'll let you in on a little secret. That's MY painting. And this is MY gallery." Caroline frowned.

"Mikaelson?" she asked incredulously. She examined the name on her invitation. She turned and looked him up and down. "You don't look like a Joseph," she commented.

'Joseph' laughed, and plucked her sheet and paddle from her. "Nor do you look like a Candice," he replied.

Caroline shrugged. 'Joseph' couldn't help himself.

"So what do you really think, 'Candice'?" He asked, using quotations marks when saying Candice. Caroline turned back to the painting. "It's...sad," she admitted. "There's anger, and pain, and sadness and frustration and longing...I'm mean, that's what I see," she mumbled, ducking her head. Joseph stared at her. She got it. Someone actually got it. He shook himself. "Well, love, I'd love to tell you-"

"I'm leaving now," Caroline stated, and turned away from the painting, giving it one last look. She knew now why it mesmerized her. She recognised herself in it. "Bigger fish to fry. Other paintings, other rich men to fool, other things to steal. It was so not nice seeing you again. I'm leaving," she repeated. Klaus raised an eyebrow at her as a surge of people approached his painting. "Just like that?" he asked. Caroline smirked.

"Just like that." Caroline strutted away from him to the other end of the room, grabbing a glass of champagne and downing it as she went. Someone beside him whistled. "Trevor," Klaus asked the man closest to him, who came to his boss' side.

"Yes, boss?"

"I want you to find out about someone for me," Klaus stated, and Slater smirked and nodded.

"I can already guess who. Consider it done, I'll get back to you," with that, Slater disappeared, probably upstairs to access the CCTV cameras.

"B?" Caroline asked down her phone later that night, "Can you access something for me? Yeah. A gallery. Mikaelson's. Just their footage from tonight, from about eight thirty to eight forty; maybe less. Search for me, and you'll find him. That's our thief. I want to know who he is, and how he did it. Thanks, Bon." Caroline thanked her before ending the call. She was just searching for curiosity. She wanted to know who he was and how he managed to get away. That's all, she told herself. That's all.

(Company of thieves)

Caroline did what she was instructed by Elena. At six thirty the next day, Caroline entered the museum. She smacked her gum and twirled her hair, talking animatedly to a security guard, with most of the others watching on in amazement. Her short skirt MIGHT have something to do with that. "I want THAT one," Caroline said and pointed at an emerald necklace in a display case. "Miss, that's purely for observation. No one can 'have it'," the guard closest to her said kindly. Caroline frowned, and shook her head. "No, you don't understand," she smiled at him, and a few others near her. "My man Johnny said that I can have ANNNYTHING I want from here, and I want THAT. See, Johnny's a cheater. He cheated seven times that I know of!" she exclaimed dramatically, warning Elena about the number of security cameras she had spotted in the main room and the number of guards. "He only apologised TWICE," she pouted dramatically, warning her friend about the number of exits. This was their predetermined code. "But, he said, 'you pick anything you want from here, sugar' and so I am! He's still a cheating rat, though," she said almost thoughtfully. "I'm still gonna leave him, ya know? But who am I to refuse a diamond or two?" she giggled, twirling her hair and a few of the guards tittered in alarm of this crazy girl. "Miss, as horrible as that is," another guard piped up, "you can't have that. That necklace belonged to Elizabeth Taylor," he explained. Caroline blinked.

"And? So that means I can't have it?"

A few of the guards exchanged looks. "I'm afraid so," one said grimly.

"Some of her pieces might be going up for auction real soon, though," another piped up.

"Tim!" the first guard hissed at him. "We aren't supposed to talk about it!"

Caroline's eyes widened. "An auction? Oh, that would be fabulous!" She approached Tim and looped her arm through his. "So Tim, is it?" he nodded. "I would LOVE for you to tell me more about it! I won't tell anyone, pinkie promise," she giggled.

"Got it," Elena said triumphantly in her ear. "I'm making my way out now. In the alley."

Caroline sighed dramatically. "Would ya look at the time? I'm real sorry, fellas, but a girl's gotta run. But I'll come back and visit some time, kay? You can tell me more about that auction," she added to Tim. She strode away, turned back to them at the door and waved at them, before sauntering out of the building. "I'm coming to meet you, Lena," she spoke.

"Okay, I'll be at the all-" Elena's voice was cut off suddenly, and Caroline's blood ran cold.

"E?" she asked, walking faster.

She heard a groan in response.

Caroline started to run.

She made her way to the back of the museum, into the alley, and ventured deep into it. "E?" Caroline called desperately. She swore her heart stopped when she saw the brunette crumpled on the ground a few yards away from her. "Oh my God, Elena!" Caroline ran to her friend, sliding on to her knees. "Damon? Damon we need you," she cried into her ear to her team-mate. She knew he'd be listening. It didn't matter if Damon was involved in the job or not, he'd have his piece in in case of an emergency. Caroline looked closely at her friend, and the blood pooling around her stomach. "Oh my God," she moaned, and pressed her hands down onto the wound. "Stay awake, Elena, okay? You stay awake. Stay with me, okay? You're going to be fine, Damon will be here soon," she said desperately, keeping pressure on the wound. Elena coughed, and shook her head. "No," she moaned. "I'm not-I'm not going to make it, Care. You know that," her friend smiled at her, and Caroline's eyes filled with tears.

"You are, Lena, you are. Come on, stay with me," Elena smiled at Caroline.

"Ever the optimist, C." Caroline sobbed.

"Damon-" she said in a strangled voice.

"Don't," Elena whispered. "Listen to me Care. This is not your fault, okay? This isn't anyone's fault." She sucked in a deep breath. "I knew the risk when I started this. I was willing to take it. I still am." Her brown doe eyes filled with tears as she stared up at her friend, Elena's head in Caroline's lap. "Thank you for being my family, Caroline. Thank them. I- love you all," she breathed out. "Tell Kat- tell Kat and Jer I'm sorry I couldn't protect them any longer," she gasped. Caroline nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"I know, I know what to tell them. You are doing so great, E. Just hang on."

"Take care of them," Elena's voice trembled as Caroline cradled her friend.

"Help me," Caroline cried. "Stay with me and help me. What will I do without my partner in crime?"

Elena smiled faintly. "I can't, Caroline. I can't anymore. You know that. You- you're strong. You be good," she breathing grew fainter as she stared at the sky. Elena stopped crying.

"I knew the risk. I was ready to die. I'm ready to die," she breathed.

"No, Elena," Caroline sobbed, trying to shake her. "Stay awake. Please! Stay awake!"

Elena smiled. "Take care of them. I was ready, Caroline. I knew the risk. I'm ready. I'm ready," she gasped, and took her last breathe, and the light went out of Elena Gilbert's eyes forever.

Caroline noticed the note on her friend.

_We warned you. He wants it back. _

Caroline felt her heart rate quicken as a phone rang. It was her own, she vaguely recognised. The only person that would phone her on her phone would be her mom. She vacantly flipped her older phone open. "Hello?" she croaked.

"Caroline?" she heard her mother's voice, and there was something in it that made Caroline sit up straighter.

"Mom? What's wrong? What's going on?" she asked urgently. Liz' voice trembled.

"Caroline...I don't know where I am."

"Mom? It's okay, you'll be fine, and I'll come get you."

This time, the voice on her phone wasn't her mother's. "Ah ah ah, Caroline," the voice warned. "It's not that simple."

"Who are you?" Caroline demanded.

"Be nice," the voice chastised, "or else we won't treat your mother nicely. Boys?"

Caroline could hear her mother's scream down the other end of the phone. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Stop it!" Caroline cried desperately, and Liz' screaming stopped.

"I believe I asked you to get something back for me," the voice said cheerfully.

"Moroney," Caroline breathed.

"Correct," Vincent said coolly.

"Please, let her go," Caroline pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, I will. When you give me back what is mine."

"I didn't take anything from you!" Caroline cried.

"I want it back," he stated.

Caroline understood. It didn't matter that she didn't take it. He wanted her to get it back. Caroline glanced at the mouth of the alley, wondering when Damon would get here. "What is it?" Caroline asked, swallowing a lump in her throat." Moroney laughed down the other end of the phone.

"You hear that, boys? She'll do it." There were cheers from Moroney's men. He turned his attention back to Caroline. "It has been lost many time over the years. Many, many time. They took what was ours oh so long ago. My grandfather- he had quite the collection, you see. We hail from Italy, but he had settled in France. They took everything from him," Vincent said darkly. "His life's work. His pride and joy, which had been in our family for centuries! Gone! But I'm getting it back. You're getting it back for me," he stated. Caroline shook her head.

"I don't- you need to tell me what 'it' is," she reminded him, trying not to snap.

"Ah, of course!" Caroline held her breath. "The painting I wish for you to retrieve for me is the lost Leonardo." Caroline was silent.

"I-It hasn't been seen since the middle of the 16th century," Caroline said faintly.

"That's where you're wrong. My family have always been collectors, and this is something that was in my family for many, many years, as you can tell. So I want you to locate it, and get it for me." Vincent paused. "It would be such a shame if you didn't. You wouldn't want anything to happen to your dear mother like it did to Ele-"

"Don't," Caroline warned, her eyes filling with tears again as she automatically looked down at her friend's body. "Don't say her name," you don't deserve to, she thought. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Moroney breathed. "So, Caroline, you do this for me, and I shall give you your mother back. Unharmed, of course. Unless you don't do what I have asked."

"How long?" Caroline asked bluntly.

"Hmm...three weeks from today should be enough."

"Three weeks?" Caroline asked weakly.

"Too much?"

"No! No, that's fine."

"Good. You better keep to your word, Caroline. How many people will you let die for your arrogance?"

Caroline breathed sharply. "I got it. You'll get your painting, Moroney. I take it you'll know how to contact me," she said bitterly and hung up.

Caroline stared at her phone. She had three weeks to get back the Lost Leonardo. That's...insane. Not possible. It can't be done. "Caroline?" she heard a voice say, and to her surprise it wasn't in her ear, but Damon was in the mouth of the alley.

"Caroline?" he asked again as he came further into the alley. "What happened? Where's Ele-" Damon cut off with a moan as he reached his sister. "Damnit!" he roared, and kicked at a huge bin, throwing trash cans around the alley in his rage. "Damnit," he said in a quiet, broken voice.

"She's dead, Damon," Caroline said vacantly. "She's dead," she swivelled her glazed light green eyes to meet his, "and I killed her." Her was cracked. "It-it's my fault, Damon. It's my fault. I killed her. I should have listened," she said in a trembling voice. Damon fell to his knees beside her. "You didn't, Caroline," he whispered, his own eyes growing wet as he stared at his friend's body. She looked...happy. At peace, like she should be. Damon didn't know if there was a God or a Heaven, but he hoped there was. He hoped there was for Elena, and it was beautiful, and she was happy. Just like she deserved to be. "Come on," he said gently, and handed her the car keys. "Go get the car, it's just round the corner, and bring it round here. I'll get her," he said and gave her a gentle push, but Caroline wasn't going to move. "Go, Blondie," he said sharply, and she shook herself and stood up and went and got the car. Damon looked down at Elena. He gently reached down and shut her eyelids, and lifted her up in his arms. Caroline drove the car and stopped to in front of him and opened the backdoor. With a lump in his throat, Damon carefully slid her into the back seat, pushing her down so no one could see her. They both stood and stared at Elena's body. Damon angrily scrubbed at his eyes. Caroline shook with silent sobs. They had both loved her, and lost her, and now she was gone for good, and she wasn't coming back. Elena Gilbert was gone, and she left behind a mess. Damon turned to Caroline, and he surged forward and embraced her, both of them holding each other up as they mourned the loss of their friend.

X.x.X

When they arrived home, Caroline made sure the coast was clear and Damon carried Elena up to the apartment. It appeared that they already knew. When Caroline shut the door with a click, Damon marched stiffly into the sitting room and laid Elena down. Bonnie and Stefan appeared from the kitchen, eyes puffy from tears. "Is it-is she-" Bonnie's voice trembled, and her eyes fell on Elena's body, and then travelled up to Caroline's bloody hands and clothes, and Damon's tear streaked face. "No," she moaned, as fresh tears threatened to fall. Stefan's face went white as his fists clenched in anger, and he ran his hands over his face, tugging at his hair. "Fuck!" he swore violently. "What happened?" he croaked.

Caroline slumped down into a chair. "She- it was done. The job was done. She was just leaving, and I was going to meet her, and she went silent. I ran to her. Moroney's men had shot her. But they shot her so she'd live just long enough for me to see her die," she spoke quietly, staring at her blood soaked hands. "She- she had a message. She said- E- Elena said she loved us," Caroline's voice trembled, "and she was going to be okay. She was ready. She said she was ready," Caroline whispered, and Bonnie put a hand to her mouth to stifle her cry. Her friend- Elena was gone. They would never hear her heels clicking on the floor again, never hear her laugh again. And that hurt. "Why?" Bonnie asked, clearly having been filled in on what had happened to Caroline the previous day. "Why did they do it? What does he want you to get?"

"He- they- it was a warning. For me. If I didn't co-operate and do what he wanted, it would happen again. He- Moroney- he has my mom, Bonnie," she gazed as at friend desperately, imploring her to understand. "I have to do it, or he'll kill her. Just like he did Elena."

"What does he want?" Damon asked after a silence.

Caroline paused. "He...he wants me to acquire the lost Leonardo."

Stefan's eyes widened. "He wants you to find 'The Battle of Anghiari?" Bonnie stuttered.

"That's impossible, it's been missing since the mid-16th century!" Damon cried indignantly.

"Not according to Moroney. His family apparently acquired it, and it was lost when the Nazis invaded France. He seems pretty sure it's still out there," Caroline responded. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if it wasn't.

"So we have to find a painting that hasn't been seen in public since the 16th century, and is claimed to have dropped off the face of the earth in 1942, after the bonfire in Paris?" Stefan asked. Caroline nodded.

"Great, just...great."

Caroline stood up. "Look...I'm not going to ask you to help me. Any of you," she turned and looked at each of them. "It'll put you in danger, and I don't want that. None of you have to do this," she said forcefully. "You can walk away right now." The room went silent.

"And let you take all the glory yourself? Fat chance," Bonnie smiled wearily and Caroline reached over and grabbed her friends hand and squeezed it. "She's family to you, she's family to us," Damon decided, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm in, Blondie."

Everyone turned to Stefan, who was standing with his back to them. "I don't like this," he admitted. "I don't like he has us under his thumb, doing what he wants." He turned to them. "But he killed one of our own. He killed Elena. And now, it's war," he finished grimly. Caroline stood up and walked over to him. "It's not the end of it, Stef," she spoke firmly. "We'll give him his painting, like he's demanded. But one way or another- Moroney is going down." She looked around at them. "Even if I have to kill him." With that, she marched out of the room. Her walk was different, Damon noticed. She walked taller, stood straighter, and marched with a purpose. It was the march of a soldier. And Caroline was right. Its war, and only one side can win.

Caroline got cleaned up and disappeared for a little bit, then came back with floor plans, old looking diaries and her phone with two business cards. She cleaned the table, absently throwing things behind her. "What are you doing?" Bonnie asked, clutching a mug of coffee.

Caroline didn't turn away from organising the table. "Planning," she answered.

"Isn't it a little late, Care?" Bonnie suggested meekly. Caroline looked at her.

"I just want to get this sorted, then I'll-I'll start making arrangements." Bonnie's gazed softened. Elena had been moved to a spare bedroom, and the door was firmly shut. A few hours later, it was done. The arrangements had been made for Elena's funeral. It would be a small service conducted overlooking the city. Then Elena's ashes would be spread there, over her favourite city, the city she spent most of her time in. It was where she was born, where she grew up, where she died, and where she would be laid to rest. It was late evening at this stage. The floor plans were scattered across the table, along with the diaries. Caroline was flipping through one, as Damon accompanied her, looking at another. Stefan was searching through their archives to see if there was anything else of use to them. Bonnie was across the table, tracing routes with a floor plan of the place the art pieces to be burned had been stored before, to where the bonfire happened, creating a timeline and trying to figure out where the painting could have disappeared at before getting to the fire. Caroline sighed and put the diary she was looking at down. Her eyes fell on the business card in front of her, as it had many times before.

"Stefan? Could you come here, please?" she called, and Bonnie and Damon looked up.

"Did you find anything?" Stefan asked as he walked through the door.

"No," Bonnie said dejectedly. "I can't figure it out. There isn't enough information or written records. It's not the sort of thing you can hack with a computer."

"Nil," Damon confirmed, looking longingly at his drink cupboard.

"No," Caroline said slowly. She paced up and down, and then stopped. "Guys, I'm calling in Kat."

"No."

"Not happening."

"No way! Are you insane, Blondie?!" were the responses she was greeted with.

"Suck it up, ladies," Caroline snapped sassily. "We need her. You know we do. She has the resources, the pull-"

"You mean the willingness to sleep with people to get information," Damon interrupted.

"Look, it's not perfect, okay? But she's Elena's twin. She's the only one I know that can do what she does. Maybe even better. She has to know," Caroline said firmly. "She has every right. She has as much right to want to take him down as we do." Bonnie piped up.

"As much as I hate to admit it, she's right," she spoke begrudgingly. "We don't have a choice. And an angry Katherine is not someone you want to mess with."

Stefan furrowed his brow. "It's really the only option, isn't it?"

Damon groaned. "Fine. I'll put up with her royal highness. But as soon as this job is over, she's out."

"Fine," Caroline agreed. She snatched the business card and took her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number. "Kat? It's Angel. Yeah. Listen, something's happened...where are you? Can I meet you tomorrow? That would be great. See you then," she hung up.

There was one more person she needed on this mission.

One person she loathed to admit she needed, but he was good. Maybe one of the best. Sighing in defeat, Caroline slowly whirled to Bonnie. "Bonnie," she asked slowly, "Remember that person I asked you about yesterday? Did you get a hit on him?"

Bonnie smirked. "Is the Pope a Catholic? What do you need?"

"Can you get me a personal address on him? I need to talk to him. I need to talk to Klaus."

**AN: **

**Tehe.**

**Imma help y'all out.**

'**Dear Clodagh,**

**Option A. WHY?**

**Option B. Is that supposed to be sad?**

**Option C. DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD**

**Option D. ASDFGHJKL;**

**Option E. Other _**

**From _'**

**:D**

**ONWARDS! **

**Song recs: (Which I recommend re-reading the chapter while listening to them-it helps. Or makes it worse, whatever way you see it.) 'Youth' by Daughter, 'The Funeral' by Band of Horses, 'So Cold' by Ben Cocks, 'Warm Shadow' (Dactyl Remix) by Fink, and 'Keep The Streets Empty For Me' by Fever Ray. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hello again! Okay, you know the way I said that it was going to be twenty chapters? Well, I lied. These two chapters were short and I couldn't bear to leave you with so little, so now they are one! So really you're getting two chapters in one, don't say I don't spoil you!**

**First off- WOAH THE RECEPTION THIS STORY IS GETTING IS AMAZING. To all the regulars (aka the ones who have read other stories of mine) hi again and thanks for sticking with me! And to all you newbies-hello and welcome aboard the crazy train! No doubt a lot of you are here through a certain tumblr blog- miss 'klaroline-fantasies' –and her AWESOME graphic for the story! Isn't it amazing? She was super nice about making it for me! So whether you're new or an old timer-welcome and I hope you enjoy this chapter! As always- feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think! Have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'Happiness is Overrated' by The Airborne Toxic Event, 'Can't Pretend' by Tom Odell, 'Blood' by The Middle East, 'No More Running Away' by Air Traffic, 'Black Flies' by Ben Howard, 'Maneater' by Blue Eyed Blondes, and 'Seven Nation Army' by The Killers. **

Katherine Gilbert lived in the outskirts of Chicago. Her little brother, Jeremy, was temporarily crashing with her as he tried to make it as an artist. Jeremy wanted out of the family business that much was obvious. The Gilbert's had been at it since birth, accompanying their parents on different jobs and acting as distractions. Katherine's family always had a pigeon holes for each member. Elena, her twin, was the responsible, grown up one. She was the martyr, the perfect one who everyone loved. Katherine was her opposite. She was the daredevil, always pushing too far. She was the risktaker, the bold one. Whereas Elena would usually debate a fight calmly, Katherine would be head and heels into it, making it a full out bar brawl. Jeremy was the baby of the family, the quiet one, the artsy type, who had just wanted to play video games and draw comics, but instead he was thrust into a world he hated, and didn't have much choice it the matter.

When Grayson and Miranda Gilbert died in a car accident when Elena and Katherine were seventeen, and Jeremy fifteen, their world was turned upside down. They were thrust into the care of their mother's sister, Jenna, who took care of them until the girls were eighteen, and it was decided that it was time they made their own way. Elena and Katherine off, doing jobs, making money the only way they knew how. Jeremy stayed with Jenna awhile longer, as it was decided that the twins were too young to look after him just yet. Jeremy stayed and did all the wrong things, and dated all the wrong people, until he finally realised what he wanted to do years later. He joined the family business again, feeling like he'd be letting down his parents if he didn't. It was Katherine that put him out of his misery and told him their parents would want him to be happy, doing whatever he wanted to do.

Elena offered to give him a substantial amount of money to set him up, but Jeremy refused, wanting to do it the right way and get out of the business completely. He did, however, take up Katherine's offer of living with her for a while.

"_You want to be the damaged, struggling artist? Okay, you can live with me and when you're famous I will go along with the story that you begged me to sleep on my sofa and we weren't living in a comfy lap of luxury."_

Not that Elena didn't offer, but sometimes Jeremy found she tried to take the role of mother hen _too_ seriously. And that was that, and here they were. Katherine was 22 and Jeremy 20, and their sister was dead and they didn't know it yet.

But they were about to.

Caroline paced at the door of the house, and when Katherine opened the door, she wanted to cry. Katherine and her twin were identical, and it hurt just looking at her. Katherine left the door open and sauntered away. "This better be good, Caroline," Katherine warned. "If my sister sent you with a message about her bailing on me, I don't want to hear it," she strode into the kitchen, and Caroline dutifully followed. "Where's Jeremy?" she asked. "Out at Matt's," Katherine answered. "And I'm not interested in a job, you can tell her that," she added, flashing her hand that held a sparkly engagement ring on it. "I'm engaged, and in temporary retirement, you all know that." Caroline swallowed a lump in her throat. "Kat..." she began, searching for the right words. She'd rehearsed it, of course, saying the words 'Elena's dead' over and over again until she could hold it together, but this was her sister. How was she supposed to tell her that? Instead of talking, not feeling brave enough yet, Caroline shakily pulled out a small case she had been carrying in her bag. She unlocked the case and slid it over to Katherine, who gasped. "A Klimt? Nice," she whistled, then looked up at Caroline, who was pale and trembling.

"It's a...it's a wedding present. From Elena."

Katherine shook her head at Caroline, her face contorting in pain as she understood, but she didn't want to. "No...Elena can give it to me closer to the wedding," she said firmly, her own hands trembling as she hastily shoved the case back over to Caroline and stepped away from the table. Caroline eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. "Katherine, I-"

"SHUT UP, CAROLINE!" Katherine yelled. "Shut up," she said more quietly as tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Caroline whispered. "I'm so sorry," and Caroline did something truly selfish. She didn't tell Katherine it was her fault. She didn't say it was to send a message to her that Katherine's twin was dead. She didn't, couldn't, because having to live with that knowledge seemed punishment enough. Katherine went to the bar and poured a shot and downed it. She didn't offer Caroline one. Caroline didn't blame her. "How?" Katherine asked quietly, and then changed her mind. "No. Don't tell me. I don't want to know yet," she spoke hastily and her lip trembled as she spoke. "Who?" Katherine asked, clutching the countertop in an iron grip, her knuckles white. Caroline took a deep breath. "It was Vincent Moroney and his men," she answered carefully. "Kat, I-"

"I don't want to know the details," Katherine interrupted. "But whatever it is you're planning, and I know you, Caroline, you're planning something-I want in. If it kills Moroney, I want a part in it," Katherine spoke with a firm, steely determination in her voice. Caroline knew she'd find out the details eventually. But at the minute, Katherine didn't want the details, and Caroline wouldn't be the one to break it to her. "Jeremy?" Caroline asked.

"Not interested," Katherine replied firmly.

"That's okay," Caroline shrugged, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I have another idea for him anyway. If it's alright with you, I've already made the...the preparations," she said carefully, and Katherine nodded, rather gratefully. She was never much of a planner, or a people person. Caroline was generally better at handling people than she was. "Elena's ashes," Caroline explained. "She wants-wanted," she corrected herself, and Katherine flinched, "her ashes to be spread overlooking the city. I thought...would Jeremy want to?" She asked softly. Katherine considered her.

"I'll need to tell him, but yes, he'd want to." Katherine confirmed. She tapped her fingers against the marble. "What do you need me to do?" Caroline sighed. This would take a while.

"I need you to get information for me."

"Okay?"

"I need you to seduce an ex-Nazi, basically."

Katherine sighed. Her talons tapped the marble. "Fine. What do you need to know?" Caroline could almost get over the speed she recovers from being told she needs to seduce an old man. Almost, but not quite.

"The Battle of Anghiari. It was kept in secret storage, and was then taken by the Nazis, but it was never put on record. I need you to find out what happened to it, and who saved it from the bonfire in Paris."

Katherine went to the bar, downed another shot, and wiped away her tears. On a second thought, she got another glass, filled it and handed it to Caroline, who smiled ruefully at her, then filled her own. "To Elena," Katherine whispered, raised her glass in toast, and then threw it back. "To Elena," Caroline echoed, doing the same. In that moment, they could almost pretend she was still with them, and neither woman wanted to face the reality that she wasn't.

X.x.X

Klaus Mikaelson was in his office when he heard a muffled commotion outside his door. He sighed and stopped flipping through his papers. He stood, and walked towards the door, opening it and looking out. There was no one there. His second hand man Trevor must be around the corner, he thought, as he turned in his corridor and went back into his dark office, only lit by a small lamp on his desk. He managed to not look surprised when he saw a pair of lean legs crossed by the blonde haired girl lounging on his desk. "Your security is poor," she informed him as she dropped a small tool kit onto the desk beside her and picked up his papers. "Duly noted," he replied and shut his study door.

"Oh, and he's also unconscious," Caroline added and smiled brilliantly at him. Klaus sighed.

"Also noted." Caroline lightly swung her leg and flipped over the page she was inspecting.

"I'd implement these new security measures if I were you," she advised and handed the papers to him.

"So did you just come here to beat up my friends-which is rather impressive, by the way, Trevor studied Krav Maga- and show me how terrible my security systems are?" Klaus asked. Caroline smiled at him and stood up. "Well, first off, thank you," she said with a little bow. "Second off, no, I didn't. Though you really could use someone doing that."

Klaus rubbed his temples. "Love it's very late. Care to get to the point?" Caroline shrugged.

"I have time. Plus, it's never late for thieves like you and me."

Klaus tilted his head in acknowledgement before he strode towards her and reached out towards her neck. Caroline protested. "Hey, you can't just do that-"

"Nice necklace," he commented as he plucked the chain, plucking the ruby from beneath her shirt where it had been hidden. "In fact, it looks like a missing heirloom from the Norwegian royal family, to my mind." Caroline smiled coyly.

"I met a very nice Duke."

"Clearly. And that painting you have in your hallway is lovely. A Degas?" he raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged.

"Payment for a job."

"And that emerald bracelet you have is a nice piece from King John's lost treasure, along with a few other pieces."

Caroline looked at him, surprised. "How did you kno-"

Klaus grinned brightly at her. "Because I stole the rest of it."

Caroline tilted her head and pursed her lips. "You're good," she admitted reluctantly.

Klaus smirked. "You aren't so bad yourself. I've tried following your work. I can't. There is no pattern and you leave no trace." Caroline shrugged.

"If you don't want to get caught, and you're in for the long haul, you have to be good." She paused. "Who trained you?"

Klaus shook his head. "No one," he muttered. Caroline let out a tinkling laugh.

"That's a lie."

"What?"

"You're lying," she stated.

"Am not," Klaus protested.

"You are. I can tell."

"How?" Klaus asked, crossing his arms. He didn't like being read. This girl already reminded him too much of Rebekah, with her blonde hair and haughty attitude, without her sharing one of his sister's talents.

"You blinked at a high speed," Caroline explained.

Klaus sighed. "Family business," he answered shortly.

Caroline nodded. "Tell me about it."

Klaus shook his head at her slowly. "I am a very powerful man, sweetheart, and I have a lot of very powerful allies with a lot of knowledge. And not one knows of a family in the business called Forbes."

Caroline glared at him. "What are you, spying on me?!"

Klaus chuckled. "You were the one that broke into my home, sweetheart." Caroline pursed her lips and sat back down on desk. Klaus stood in front of her, waiting.

"That's because it's not technically...MY family business," she admitted. Caroline had always hated that. Not the fact that it wasn't her business, it wasn't about that. It was the fact that no matter how much they included her, how involved she was and how much she and the Salvatore's loved each other, she wasn't one of them. She wasn't a Salvatore, no matter how hard she tried. And she felt like she always had to prove herself to be worthy of being there.

"Then whose was it?" Klaus asked in genuine interest.

Caroline tapped her nails on his desk. "The Salvatore's. I was trained by the Salvatore's."

"Salvatore's?" Klaus asked in surprise. "Stefan never mentioned they had a woman in their team."

"Family," Caroline corrected, her eyes narrowing. "And how do you know Stefan?"

Klaus shrugged uncomfortably. "We go way back. We knew each other three, four years ago." Caroline bristled.

"Well, Stefan's different now. And I didn't know him then, only three years ago, when he was..." Caroline trailed off.

"Yes, I know," Klaus explained. "I was there with him."

Caroline stared at him and clicked her tongue. "You know, Damon mentioned a guy that Stefan hung out with back then. He and his sister were his partners in crime, fellow comrades in the business. Then one day they just...upped and left." Her eyes narrowed as Klaus swallowed. "Ring any bells?" her voice dripped in venom. Damon may have been the one who started Stefan on the drinking, but Stefan said he had a friend who encouraged him to keep drinking whilst Damon begged his brother to stop. He and his friend's sister fell in love, but they suddenly upped and left, and Stefan never heard from them, sending him spiralling further. "Look, love-" Klaus started.

"Don't 'look love' me!" Caroline snapped at him. "It was you! You left him a mess!"

"What's in the past is in the past," Klaus said dismissively. He strode forward until he was nose to nose with her. "And I wouldn't bring it up again," he said darkly. Caroline lifted her chin stubbornly.

"Make me."

At this point, Trevor, a little bruised and bloody burst through the door. "Boss, are you okay?" He asked, a gun held at his side. Neither Klaus nor Caroline broke eye contact. "Get out," they said in unison and Trevor nodded in submission and backed out of the room, closing the door after him. Caroline and Klaus glared at each other.

"Why are you here?" Klaus asked tiredly.

Caroline swallowed her pride. "I'm here because I-I need your help."

Klaus cocked an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yes," Caroline snapped, then composed herself. "My team was-we were compromised. One of our own was killed. And they took my mother." Caroline said in a steely voice. Klaus nodded. "Who?" he asked, and Caroline knew this would be the deal breaker.

"Vincent Moroney."

Klaus laughed. "You've got to be kidding, sweetheart,"

Caroline glared at him. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Klaus stopped laughing and rubbed his jaw. "I don't see how I can help you."

"You're one of the best in the business," Caroline admitted begrudgingly. "And I can only have the best. I need someone with your skills, your expertise and your knowledge," she admitted. "I need your help." Klaus stared at her in silently, considering her for a while.

"What does he want you to retrieve?"

"The Battle of Anghiari."

Klaus considered this. The Battle of Anghiari had been officially missing since the mid 16th century. If he could steal that...he'd never have to work a job in his life again. "I may know someone who can help."

Caroline perked up. "So you're in?"

Klaus grinned lazily. "I'm in. On one condition."

"What?" she asked.

"I need my team."

Caroline blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Well love, you have your team, and I have mine. And I need it. So they're going us on this little rescue mission." Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I don't think you understand. My friends don't play nice with others," she said carefully, and it was true. They all bickered like cat and dog between themselves. Klaus smiled at her.

"Well I don't think _you _understand. Either they're in, or I'm out." Caroline pursed her lips, and furrowed her brow in thought. "Fine!" she spoke exasperatedly. "You can have your team. Are you in? I need your word," she threatened. Klaus offered his hand out to her.

"First off, I believe a proper introduction is necessary. I'm Klaus." Caroline shook his hand firmly. "Caroline," she replied.

"Caroline, you have my word that I'm in," Klaus said.

Caroline nodded. "Good."

"Now," Klaus said and put a hand on the small of her back as he lead her out of the room, "I think you should apologise to Trevor, and he'll make us a cracking cup of tea." Caroline scoffed. "You are so British. You'll meet me with your team tomorrow at Stefan and Damon's. I'm sure you know where that is," she said sourly, before slipping away from him and leaving.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey guys! Back again with another update-I think you'll enjoy this one! Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews this story has got, it means a lot. To the one guest reviewer who told me-rather rudely might I add- that the formatting of this story was terrible, among other things- thank you for the review but I think you'll find constructive criticism is the better way to go. And to others- please let me know if you're also confused about who is talking. If it's a two person conversation, it'll generally go like:**

**Caroline (A): Says something**

**Klaus (B): Says something**

**A:**

**B:**

**A:**

**B:**

**Unless otherwise stated. Hope that clears some things up for you, guest reviewer!**

**In case anyone is interested, I also have a few other Klaroline stories on my account- the ones that people have told me they like the best are 'Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth' and 'Story of Us' which also has a sequel! I also have a few Teen Wolf stories up, among other things, so go check those out! **

**This chapter is a bit shorter, but it seemed like the best place to part it! **

**Hope you enjoy and have a good day!**

**SONG RECS: 'Rude' cover by The Gardiner Sisters, 'People C'mon' by Delta Spirit, 'Bottom of the River' by Delta Rae, and 'Pursuit of Happiness' by Lissie. **

Katherine, Bonnie, Damon, Stefan and Caroline were lined up in the middle of the Salvatore's apartment's kitchen. "Stefan, are you sure you're okay with this?" Caroline asked worriedly, turning her head to look at him.

Stefan sent her a withering look. "I think I can work with them for three weeks, Caroline. Besides, I don't really-I don't really remember much," he mumbled, and Caroline understood. Stefan had very little memories of his time as an alcoholic, probably because he had sub consciously blocked it all out. Caroline nodded. Katherine yawned.

"Cry me a river. I have to work with _Damon," _she said in distain, delicately wrinkling her nose. Stefan was her favourite Salvatore; Katherine had decided that long ago.

"Yeah, cuz you're a bundle of joy," Damon grumbled in response. He had been threatened by Bonnie if he didn't behave she'd take him down, and he didn't for one second doubt the hacker. It didn't matter that she was essentially the brains of the group, that girl was 5"2 of pure rage and pent up anger, and he wouldn't want to cross her. He'd been on her bad side before she worked with them in a job that he ran with Katherine a few years ago, and had never wanted to get on it since. That job was also the reason he and Katherine hadn't gotten a long since, as he tried to cross her and she nearly got him killed.

"Can it!" Bonnie snapped at them both. Katherine glared at her, but was too tired to respond. She had had to talk to Jeremy yesterday, and send him on his way with Elena's ashes. That had been exhausting to say the least. She was currently on her third cup of coffee of the morning, and it was only eleven. She sighed, and fell back, deciding it wasn't worth it.

Caroline smiled at Bonnie gratefully. "Okay everyone, I don't like this either. But we can manage this for three weeks. Let's be honest, we know little to nothing about them. Not for lack of trying," she appeased the hacker, who grumbled.

"They're good. Their firewall is practically impenetrable."

"We tried, and we got some things, so it's okay," Caroline soothed. Bonnie huffed, still annoyed that she had been hacked. Damon would never let her live it down. "So we don't know anything about his team. So we'll just have to assume that they're all smart assholes like Klaus," Caroline shuddered at the thought, and Stefan grimaced. He hated going in blind; he hated not knowing exactly what they were walking in to. "But we're going to work through it. We're going to make like Scarlett, and persevere!" Caroline finished optimistically, throwing her fist into the air, but the action lacked enthusiasm and her attempt at a smile was more like that of a serial killer. Her friends stared back at her, not very amused. With that, they heard the doorbell go and Damon sighed. "Let's just get this over with," he caved shortly.

With that, he strode to the door, opened it and returned to the line his allies were assembled in, not bothering to greet their guests or show them the way. "Some people have no manners," a British female voice taunted haughtily.

"Honestly, is that how they treat their guests?" an unfamiliar male voice piped up. Caroline bristled, sensing a pattern in their accents and Klaus'. Her eyes widened marginally in horror at the thought. Surely not, she assured herself. ONE Mikaelson is bad enough, never mind three. But she was just over thinking, Caroline thought. But still, there was no denying the resemblance in the three people that lined themselves facing her friends.

"Oh God no," Katherine said in a distained voice.

"Katherina," Klaus greeted coldly. "Last I saw of you was when you stole something from me and ran."

"It's Katherine, Niklaus. And I believe the saying is-what is it, Stefan? Oh yes, forgive and forget," Katherine smirked at him triumphantly, knowing she had him. Klaus' jaw tightened, giving Caroline a look. Caroline shrugged, as if to say 'I told you they didn't play well with others.'

"Speaking of forgiveness," Damon muttered, eyeing up his brother, who looked uncomfortable as the blonde in front of him smiled up at him. "Hello, Stefan," she simpered, and Stefan coughed. "Hello, Rebekah." Rebekah batted her eyes at him, and draped herself across him in a hug. "Ew," Caroline commented, looking on in disgusted curiosity.

"Tell me about it," Klaus muttered. "It was much worse back in the day when he enjoyed it."

Caroline shuddered at the thought. "It's good to see you, Rebekah," Stefan mumbled as they broke apart. Rebekah glared darkly at him. "You're lying," she announced. "You hate the fact we're here and you need us." Rebekah pouted, turning back to Klaus. "He's not fun anymore, Nik," she whined.

Klaus shrugged. "I told you so."

Damon whistled. "She is good. Stefan's one of the best grifters in the game, and she can tell when he's lying."

"And what is it you do, exactly?" Rebekah asked rudely, "apart from standing around and think that you're attractive?"

"Easy," Klaus warned.

"Actually, I-"

Caroline interrupted Damon. "Oh shut up, Barbie."

"Pot, kettle, anyone?" Damon muttered, earning a shove from his brother.

Caroline ignored him. "Like you actually do anything but whine at your brothers."

"Leave it," Rebekah warned darkly.

The other brother and Bonnie were staring each other down, Bonnie glaring at him like he was shit on the bottom of her shoe, and he looking like a five year old who broke into the cookie jar.

"You crashed my system," Klaus' younger brother said pleasantly.

"You hacked my system," Bonnie stated, her arms folded against her chest.

"You CRASHED MY SYSTEM," he repeated in disbelief. "I'm still trying to fix it."

"Well then you obviously aren't very good at your job!" Bonnie snapped.

"B!" Caroline chastised.

"I'm not even sorry," Bonnie stated.

"Oh, I do like this one, Nik," he said pleasantly. "Do you have a name?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me it?"

"No."

"Will you marry me then?"

"What? No!"

"Shame. A date then?"

"No, you creep!" Bonnie snapped, eyeing Caroline imploringly. Caroline whistled.

"Hey!" she yelled over the hustle and bustle of the arguing. "Listen up! We're going to be working together for three weeks, let's try not to kill each other in that space of time. After we deliver the Anghiari and take down Moroney, and get my mom back you can chase each other to your heart's content."

There were grumbles as they shut up reluctantly. Caroline sighed. Seeing that her friends weren't going to make the effort, she forced a smile on to her face and broke the line of her friends until she was with the Mikaelson's. "Hi, I'm-" Caroline bit her lip. She wasn't too sure could she tell these people her name? Could she trust them with her teams names? A smile ghosted Klaus' lips. "Now love, are you going to give us your actual name, or your team name? What'll it be, 'Candice?'"

"Who's Candice?" Damon asked, confused.

"She is, idiot," Katherine snapped, rubbing her temple. "Like you're 'Ian'."

"Oh yeah."

Caroline stood straighter. "Caroline," she introduced herself firmly, not holding her hand out. She had the feeling they wouldn't take it anyway, especially the blonde who was glaring at her. "Kol," Klaus' brother introduced. He looked towards Bonnie hopefully. "And you are?"

"Oh, for the love of-Bonnie. I'm Bonnie," she said exasperatedly.

"Bonnie," Kol breathed, and Caroline wanted to laugh at the disturbed look on her friends face. Klaus nudged his sister. "Rebekah," she introduced sourly. "Pleasure, I'm sure."

"Stefan."

"Damon."

"Katherine."

"Klaus."

Once all the introductions were made, Kol rubbed his hands together. "Not that that wasn't enthralling, would you like to get started now?"

Damon led the way to where all their information was, and soon they were all stuck in it around the table. "So, to be honest, we have no clue where it is," Stefan concluded.

"Not true," Katherine argued. "A lot of the Nazis fled to America during the war and in the aftermath of it. All they had to do was hid it until they could transport it to America."

"We don't even know that it's IN America," Rebekah reminded her. "Even if it was, thousands of Nazis took refuge here. How are we supposed to narrow them down?"

"We could always hack into the databases of will's of Nazi members," Kol offered. "See if there was anything they demanded was kept in the family, or they kept with a trustee."

Bonnie pulled her hair into a ponytail, stretching. "We couldn't access them all. It's not like they all shared the same lawyers."

"Plus we don't even know if they're dead," Stefan muttered, shuffling through papers again.

"Maybe they have some kind of 'mwuhahaha we tried to kill the Jews and failed' convention each year?" Damon suggested half-heartedly.

No one had the heart or energy to chastise him, not even Bonnie, who would normally be yelling at him like crazy. Caroline tapped her nails on the table. "So we need a tracker. Someone who would be able to get the records for us and trace the footsteps of the painting."

"If they can get me an in, I could find out where it is," Katherine commented absently, twisting her engagement ring.

"I know someone," Klaus and Caroline said in unison, and looked at each other in surprise.

"It is scary when they do that," Bonnie muttered. Klaus took out his phone and started typing in a number. Caroline who was in the chair beside him strained to see. "Who do you kno-oh God," she said dejectedly. "Kat, you're going to want to see this." Katherine snatched the phone from Klaus, looked at the screen and raised an eyebrow, a smile gracing her lips as she eyed Klaus. "How do you know him?" Klaus asked.

"He's Kat's-"

"He's my fiancé," Katherine said gleefully, waggling her hand under his face. The colour drained from his face. "Please tell me she's joking," he asked Caroline, who shook her head.

"Nope. She semi-retired so she could plan the wedding."

"Anyone. Anyone. ANYONE BUT HER." Klaus muttered, dragging his hand across his face. Caroline laughed. "So, someone you know is marrying Katherine. We didn't think anyone would have the balls either." Katherine rolled her eyes at that. "How do you know him anyway?" Caroline asked him, taking in his tight smile.

"He's my brother."

"BROTHER? There are four of you?" Caroline yelled in horror. Oh God. He had always seemed so mannerly and polite, who knew his siblings came from Hell itself?

"Five, actually," Rebekah corrected, narrowing her eyes. "Who is the she devil marrying?"

"Yes brother, who are we paying a visit to?" Kol asked eagerly.

Klaus sighed. "Pack your bags. We're going to New York to visit Elijah."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey guys! Very sorry there was no update yesterday, I didn't have access to a computer, but here it is! And to make up for it, we once again have two chapters in one as these two were both pretty short! I hope you enjoy!**

**SONG RECS: 'Monsters under the bed' by Eugene McGuinness, 'Sour Cherry' by The Kills, 'Do you wanna' by The Kooks, 'X's & O's' by Elaine Faye, and 'Fever to the Form' by Nick Mulvey. **

Caroline sighed as she stretched out on the plane they were on. Well, it wasn't a plane, exactly. It was a private jet that Rebekah had managed to coerce someone into giving it to her. Caroline wasn't entirely sure what the blonde had done and she didn't think she wanted to know. "It was easy street," Rebekah had smirked as she strutted ahead of them onto the plane. Bonnie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Our sister is a strumpet," Kol informed them sadly. Damon snorted.

"Shut your mouth Kol, or the next thing that comes out of it will be your teeth!" Rebekah yelled, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

"Wow." Caroline said, stunned.

"What a bitch," Katherine commented. Her friends all turned to look at her. "What?!" she asked uncomfortably. "Eugh, shut up!" she shoved Stefan as she walked past.

Caroline glanced out the window, and then around the plane. Her friends and allies were spread out around the place, some on laptops, Rebekah was filing her nails, Katherine was on what seemed to be her sixth cup of coffee of the day, Stefan was scribbling away with Damon narking in his ear. Bonnie had her head phones in and was trying desperately to ignore Kol, and Klaus-

"Is this seat taken?"

-was sliding into the seat next to her.

"Yes, actually," she muttered. "My imaginary friend is sitting there. You're squishing him right now." Klaus glanced at her oddly. Caroline sighed. "Humour is lost on the old."

"Yes, because I'm so old at twenty six."

"State your reason for sitting here, egg stealer," Caroline demanded. Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Will you get over that?!" he asked, astonished.

"No!" she snapped. "It was my egg."

"Oh love, I think it's time to get over that notion," he said dismissively. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want, Klaus?" she asked. "I'm busy."

"We're all busy, sweetheart. I think you need to realise you aren't carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Yeah, well how about you try having your mom held hostage and we'll see how cranky you get," she snapped.

"You can't," Klaus said evenly. "She's dead."

Caroline gulped. "I'm-you know what, I'm not even going to say I'm sorry." She knew how awful it was when people said they were sorry. They didn't have anything to do with the death. Klaus raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged.

Klaus leaned back in his seat. "Yes, well, neither am I."

Caroline furrowed her brow. "Why? She was your mother."

Klaus didn't answer, and Caroline gave up. She sat back and curled her feet up under her. "How did you get into it?" he asked her so long after he had last talked, she was ready to fall asleep. "What?" she asked groggily, noticing Damon cover Katherine-who was finally, finally sleeping- with a blanket. She smiled softly, and Klaus looked in the direction of her gaze. "Does he love her?" he asked curiously, and Caroline shook her head.

"Nah. He and Kat barely get on at all."

"Then why is he being so kind?" Klaus asked, confused. Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Of course. You wouldn't understand, Klaus."

"Then help me."

Caroline debated ignoring him, and then decided against it. "We've been a team on and off since I was nineteen. It was just Damon, Stefan and I at first. Then I met Bonnie and Elena, Damon started bringing in Katherine, Stefan would let Jeremy come along sometimes..." Caroline trailed off. "When you work, live, train and do everything with these people for so long, they become your family. We're a family, Klaus. Just like yours is. It may not all be blood, but it's family," she stated. She glanced at Damon again, who was looking over the sleeping Katherine with a pained look on his face. "It wasn't her," Klaus realised.

Caroline shook her head. "She has-had-" she corrected herself, her voice catching, "-a twin. Elena. They both loved her," she said quietly. "It ended, they all got over it. Everyone moved on. I just don't think Damon moved on as much as he thought he did."

Klaus paused. "Elena was the one that Moroney had murdered, wasn't she?"

"He blames himself," Caroline said vacantly. "He thinks he should have been there. Should have forced us into taking him with us, to have been there. Then maybe he could have taken it instead of her."

"Sweetheart," Klaus tried. "Caroline. It was nobody's fault. It wasn't his, and it wasn't yours. It was Moroney, Caroline. Focus on that," he tried miserably to give a pep talk, but he never had been the cheering up type. Instead he tried to get her to focus. If she wasn't focused, she wouldn't work properly. She wouldn't be sharp. She wouldn't be able to get the painting for him. Also-it was unnerving to see a young woman who-from what he'd seen-was usually so focused, so into everything, so vacant and uninterested. "You asked why I was here," Caroline stated, gazing out of the window. "The truth?"

Klaus nodded. "The truth."

Caroline turned from the window and smiled at him, and it was unlike any smile he had seen before. It was all knowing, and all encompassing. "I ran."

Before Klaus had the chance to respond, Bonnie was over with the two of them. "Call off your hound!" she snapped at Klaus. He raised his hands. "I wish I could, but I'm not in control of him."

"Come on Bonnie, just give me a chance!" whined Kol from his seat.

"How come he didn't follow you?" Klaus asked. Bonnie smirked.

"I may have encouraged him a little. Then tied him up in the seat belts and hand cuffed him to the seat." Klaus laughed.

"He's a thief, Bonnie. He'll pick the lock." Bonnie shook her head.

"No he won't. They can only be deactivated by a mobile device," she explained.

"Of which-"

"of which none are anywhere near him, and won't be for the rest of the flight," Bonnie informed him. Klaus considered the girl, before turning to the Salvatore brothers. "I like this one. Can we keep her?"

"Not a chance," Damon replied.

"She's with us, I'm afraid." Stefan said with a small smile. He glanced behind Klaus. "You okay, Care?" Caroline turned like a deer caught in headlights at the mention of her name.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said hastily.

"Well...get some shut eye," Stefan ordered, not pleased. He knew something was up, Caroline was a terrible liar. But he wasn't going to push her; it wasn't the right time or place. Bonnie moved back to a different seat, Kol was desperately trying to break the lock, Rebekah was working her way through a stack of glossy magazines, Stefan and Damon were conversing amongst themselves and Katherine was still sound asleep. Satisfied that everyone was okay, Caroline leant back in her seat. Klaus watched her. "You really care about them," he said quietly.

"Of course I do. They're my family."

"They're your team."

"Isn't it the same thing?" she asked, and that silenced him.

"Why?" he retorted.

"Why what?" she enquired.

"Why do you care about them? They aren't blood relations, it can't be for the contacts, and you could get other people to do what they do." Caroline scoffed, angered.

"Okay, Mr 'I need my team.' It isn't always about the money. I have grown with this team. We have all grown with this team. They're GOOD PEOPLE, they're my family, my friends. I don't suspect _you _to know what that feels like," she snubbed him.

"My team are here."

"Your team? These are your siblings, Klaus! Your flesh and blood. I've seen your files. Most of the time they can't stand you, running cons against you. You want people to love you, yet you push people away. You try to buy and bribe connections, but you don't know how it feels to have real friends. You will NEVER understand that, Klaus," she hissed at him, tu turning away from him to face the window, lowering her seat and closing her eyes. Klaus stared at her tense form, anger boiling his blood.

He hated her.

She was right.

He hated it.

Caroline tried to calm down her breathing and relax.

She hated him.

He was a judgemental asshole.

He had tried to comfort her.

She hated it.

"Oh, I do hate it when mum and dad fight," Kol commented mildly; earning a pillow thrown at him from Caroline. "Shut up, Kol!" they all yelled.

"Alright, alright, no need to get your knickers in a twist," he muttered.

X.x.X

"Ew." Bonnie stated.

"This is disgusting." Caroline agreed.

"What is he doing with her?" came Rebekah's disgusted reply.

"Speak for yourself," Bonnie giggled. "Your brother is hot."

"I know I am," Kol said proudly, strutting into the room. "Oh Bon-eugh, my eyes! MY EYES!"

"Tell me about it," Damon muttered.

Stefan sighed, and Klaus coughed.

They were in Elijah's apartment in New York. Katherine had surprised him; he hadn't know she was on the team. He had heard that Elena had been taken down, but he didn't know the story. That was quickly filled in by Rebekah, who took pity on the miserable looking group with her, who as soon as Elena was mentioned got rather teary eyed. She supposed she looked like that when Henrik died. After comforting his fiancée, Elijah had done little but snog her. The others had helped themselves, draping across furniture and making tea and coffee. Klaus had coughed, he'd had enough, and the couple broke apart. Caroline raised her eyebrow.

"Are you done?" she asked dryly. Katherine gave her a small smile and settled into Elijah's lap. You could tell Caroline wasn't really mad, anything that mad Katherine happy at this point she was willing to bend over backwards to get.

Kol sniffed. "What is this?" he asked Bonnie, making a face after he took a sip of his drink. Being the lovesick puppy he was, he had blindly made what Bonnie had, not even thinking about it.

"It's herbal tea," she explained. Stefan held up his cup in a 'cheers' motion, to which Bonnie returned.

"I still don't know how you drink that stuff, it's disgusting," Damon commented.

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Just because all you drink is whiskey, scotch, vodka, bourbon and coffee."

Damon grinned. "The five main food groups, Stef. The five main food groups."

"It's disgusting," Kol announced.

"Good to know," Caroline murmured.

Rebekah flipped her hair. "Is everyone quite done? In case you haven't noticed, we have a deadline," she spoke bluntly, and to Caroline's credit, she didn't flinch.

"Yes, sister," Elijah spoke up for the first time. "Why did you all come to me?"

"We need you to trace The Battle of Anghiari for us," Stefan told him. Elijah rubbed his temple. "Pre WWII or post?"

"Pre would be a good starting point, to try and figure out it's timeline up to that point, see if we can find a pattern," Damon suggested. Katherine shook her head.

"Post. It would save time and cut straight to it, be less hard to get records of and easier to trace as it wouldn't have moved about as much."

"It might be harder, who knows how many paintings were smuggled into America during that time?" Rebekah said thoughtfully.

"Size of the piece?" Elijah asked suddenly.

"Medium." Klaus informed him.

"Sketch or painting?"

"Oil painting, yes."

"Technique?"

"Smooth, muted bright colours, almost sketch like effect to the painting," Klaus informed him, and Caroline glanced at him from across the room.

There was a pause, and they all looked to Elijah with baited breath. Katherine squeezed his hand. "I'll see what I can do," he said finally. "Do you know anything?"

Bonnie brought out a timeline. "It was smuggled from Paris between this date and this one," she pointed at two dates. "Any other dates would have you stopped and the painting brought back and burnt. It would have had to have been someone high up that got it out, or someone with connections high up."

"Who would they let out of the country with art..." Kol mused.

"Art dealers?" Rebekah suggested. Elijah nodded.

"It's a possibility. There will be records of some kind of who brought art with them when leaving the country, yes?" Kol nodded and started tapping away at his computer.

"Already on it," he informed his older brother.

"Good," Elijah was pleased.

"Try art dealers, and museum directors, people who buy for private collections," Stefan suggested. Bonnie nudged Kol at one point. "You've guessed it wrong already, it's a three limit guess, hand it over." Kol saw it as progress that she didn't yank the laptop out of his hands, and inside waited until he had set it on her lap, and she saw it as progress that he didn't say anything flirtatious.

"If it was in a museum, it would have been found by now," Klaus muttered, rubbing his jaw. "They have ways to check that, even if something was painted over it."

"So it's either with someone who knows the full history, or with someone completely oblivious," Caroline surmised. Klaus glanced at her; it was the first she'd spoken to him since their fight on the flight the day before. "Pretty much; yes."

Caroline sighed. "Great."

Bonnie reached for her best friend's hand. "Hey. We'll find it, okay?"

Katherine nodded. "No matter what it takes. I'm seeing this through to the end. He's going down."

Caroline nodded back at her friends, giving them a smile. She furrowed her brow. "Kol," she said slowly, and the young Mikaelson looked up. "Try women," she suggested, and explained after those around her gave her a look. "They're less likely to search a woman, and wouldn't think she'd do anything dodgy then. Also-less women private collectors then. Cuts down the number of suspects dramatically." Damon whistled.

"Nice one, Blondie. Here's where you being all girl power comes in handy." Caroline rolled her eyes. "Shut it, Dick."

"Caroline," Elijah called, and she glanced at the eldest Mikaelson. He had stood and was in the mouth of the hall at this point. She stood and followed him out to the hall. "We will do our upmost to find it, retrieve it and exchange it for your mother in time. You have my word," he promised solemnly. "Thank you, Elijah," Caroline said gratefully. "Really. It was so rude of us to just...barge in here."

"You brought Kat," he spoke pleasantly. "Any friend of hers is a friend of mine. The same goes for my siblings."

Caroline smiled wryly. "She was our bargaining chip, our good news."

"She's good news indeed." Caroline hesitated.

"I'm really sorry if you feel awkward because of any tension between Klaus and myself, Elijah."

"Nonsense. My brother-well, he just has the nasty habit of rubbing people up the wrong way. He never did have good manners," he mused. Turning to the blonde in front of him, he spoke again. "I know he can be a cruel, non-understanding man, Caroline, but that is simply because he has shut himself off for so long. Our father was extremely abusive, to Niklaus especially. My brother learnt the hard way over the years to shut it all off and be hard, and because of that he finds it hard to understand basic human emotions, like love, and trust."

Caroline paused. "So he's like Sherlock, then? A highly functioning sociopath?" she joked weakly, and Elijah chuckled. "That would almost be a blessing if he was. No, Niklaus is-"

"A tearaway?" she suggested.

"Guarded," he finished. Caroline pursed her lips.

"I promise I'll try and keep the tension to a minimum. It's the least I can do for you letting us crash here."

Elijah fixed his shirt sleeve. "Normally I could deal with the tension, Miss Forbes, but we will be have guests over. Important guests."

"Who?" Caroline's interest was piqued.

Elijah grinned. "The sort that are easy to get information and money off, and to steal from."

"I take it there will have been some additions to the guest list?"

"Yes, there has. Eight people that arrived looking rather bedraggled in my apartment today, and whoever Kol and your friend-Bonnie, is it?-can work out."

"That bedraggled bunch sounds like a motley crew," Caroline scrunched her nose. Elijah shuddered.

"Absolutely awful. No manners whatsoever. One put his feet on my table," he said in distain. Caroline giggled. "That one is all you. Kol is your brother."

"Unfortunately," he sighed. "Sadly, the manners didn't pass on to my baby brother."

"So we have a party to get ready for?" Caroline asked hopefully. Elijah nodded.

"Tomorrow night. Feel free to hit the town; I simply won't let you in the door in that."

Caroline acted mock offended. "Are you telling me jeans and a blouse aren't fancy?"

"Rest," he said firmly, scooting her back into the lounge with the others. "Shopping tomorrow."

"Shopping?" Bonnie, Rebekah and Katherine's heads popped up like meerkats.

"This is like this scene in Finding Nemo with the seagulls," Damon hissed at his brother.

"Not shopping," Stefan said mournfully.

"Yes shopping!" Caroline clapped her hands as the three other girls yelled at her brother.

"Oh Lord," Klaus muttered.

"What did you start, 'Lijah?!" Kol accused him.

"Everyone is going shopping, you all need something to wear for the party tomorrow," Elijah informed them. Damon perked up. "Will there be booze?" he asked hopefully.

"I second that question!" Kol piped up.

"Yes, there will be alcohol," Elijah sighed, and Caroline gave Stefan an encouraging smile.

"Potential victims?" Katherine asked, equally hopefully.

"Yes, dear, of course there will," Elijah answered fondly.

"And there will be suspects, won't there?" Klaus asked. "What? It wasn't like some secret code."

"Alright. If this is going to happen, everyone off to bed."

It was silent for a while, until Kol whispered to Klaus. "Do you think Bonnie will kiss me if I get her drunk?" he asked half-heartedly.

"NO, KOL!"


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey guys! Back with another update! Not as long as the last one, but I think you'll like it. ;) Updating should be back to normal again this week, but I'm getting A Level results on Thursday so we'll see how that goes and if I have the will to live AKA update on Friday. :p **

**P.S.- Is anyone else watching Teen Wolf? WAHHHHHHH. It's gotten so dramatic. :')**

**SONG RECS: 'We Must Be Killers' by Mikky Ekko, 'Stay' by Hurts, 'Chop and Change' by Vitamin String Quartet, 'Gold on the Ceiling' by Vitamin String Quartet, 'Lonely Boy' by Vitamin String Quartet, and 'Do I Wanna Know?' by Arctic Monkeys. (A lot of songs, I know.)**

"Rebekah, how long does it take to try on a dress?" Bonnie asked exasperatedly.

"You try and bloody pour yourself into this thing!" she snapped back from the bathroom. They were back in Elijah's apartment after a day of shopping. All the girls had gone out to get something to wear-surprisingly enough, no one was hurt. The same couldn't be said for the boys-who had set out with the same task-who all came back looking a little worse for wear. It seemed that Kol and Damon had gotten into a bit of a scuffle, and Caroline had had to help clean Damon up and remind him what was at stake. With all the dresses and the makeup and the hair products and the typical four girl's one bathroom problem, Caroline had almost forgotten what they were in New York for.

Almost.

"So does everyone know what to do?" She asked as she wiped a speck of mascara from under her eye.

Bonnie fixed her hair, fluffing it up. "Narrow it down to the people that could possibly know something, and focus on them."

Katherine applied lipstick. "Try and get addresses and contact numbers for said people to contact them after."

Rebekah sprayed some perfume. "Find out as much information as possible as to the location of the painting, the history of the owners and where it could possibly be."

Caroline nodded, examining each of the girls. This was their war paint, she realised. Red lipstick and high heels. That's when you know they mean business. That's when you know it is war.

As was previously planned, they all exited the apartment and then arrived back at various times throughout the party. Things were slow at one point when Caroline felt a hand on the small of her back and instinctively twisted away. She whirled around to see who it was. Klaus held his hands up in surrender. "Don't shoot."

"GOD! You scared the hell out of me!" she said in an annoyed voice.

"Sorry, love-"

"Why do you always call me that? Is it a British thing, or something?" she asked half-heartedly. Klaus laughed.

"It just a nickname, _Angel," _he replied using the name that the majority of the people in their world used for her.

"Shut up," she muttered, and then cocked her head. "You never told us your code name," she stated.

"You never asked."

"Well I'm asking now! What is it?" she asked curiously. He grinned predatorily at her.

"Wolf."

Caroline didn't break his stare, knowing he wanted to intimidate her. "What are your cronies doing here?" she asked casually, and he looked surprised. "Don't look so surprised, I have eyes like a hawk. And it's rather hard to miss your muscles bruises," she smirked, biting into a chocolate strawberry. Klaus rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, TREVOR was just dropping something off for me. Come with me." He offered his arm and after a beat Caroline took it, letting him lead her into a room empty of people. "So is this the part where you murder me?" she asked dryly. Klaus turned back round to face her. "And to think I was going to give you something nice,"

Caroline looked at him. "Why are you giving me something?" she asked suspiciously.

Klaus shrugged. "I saw something in my collection and it reminded me of you. It's wasted on me anyway."

Caroline opened the long box to reveal a beautiful diamond bracelet. She gasped. "Klaus..."

"As you can tell, diamonds aren't really my thing. That bracelet didn't match anything I own."

Caroline bit her lip. "Even though I'm sure you've stolen this, I can't accept it, it's too much and I hardly know you. But it IS beautiful..." she sighed. If Caroline was drawn to anything, it was beautiful things. "Well then why don't you just accept it? Would it make you feel better if I told you-what is it-oh, it sooooo coordinates with your outfit!" Caroline laughed at his terrible impression of an American teenage girl. He sighed. "Listen, Caroline, you did something very few have done with me. You were honest. I appreciate your honesty. And you appreciate the bracelet. So how about I have your honesty, and you have my bracelet?"

Caroline held out her wrist silently for him to put it on. "Where did you get it?" she asked curiously.

"I stole it off a duchess," he said airily. "She was nearly as beautiful as you."

Caroline rolled her eyes and shoved him. "Such a charmer,"

"I do try."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have information to try and get," Caroline said ruefully; suddenly remembering that she still had to work the party. Klaus nodded.

"And I have to hover around, looking for liars." Caroline scrunched her mouth, glancing at the bracelet. "Thank you," she spoke softly. "For the bracelet."

Klaus said nothing. "Come on, love," he put his hand on the small of her back and led her out of the room. "We have a party to attend."

The party continued well into the night, and the comrades gathered together again in a coffee shop the next morning.

"Why did you let me drink so much, Stef?" Damon groaned, rubbing his forehead. Stefan grumbled. "Why did you let me drink so little, Care?" he passed the question on.

"I thought you were enjoying all those middle aged women flirting with you, Stefan," she replied innocently.

Stefan glared at her. "It was excruciating."

"So is my headache," Rebekah snapped. "So will you all shut up?"

"A cranky strumpet." Kol sighed, resting his head on Bonnie's shoulder. "Bonnie, darling, I do hope you remembered that we became an item last night."

"Like hell," Bonnie said sourly. "I didn't drink, dumbass."

Kol winced. "Should have noticed that." Bonnie pushed his head off her shoulder.

"Are you children quite done?" Elijah sighed, rubbing his temples. "Did anyone actually find anything of use other than Bonnie still loathes Kol?"

Katherine swallowed a bit of her muffin. "Well, I met a man whose grandfather had fought in the war as a Nazi, and then moved his family to America. He was based in France around the time, and get this. His best friend was very high up with the Nazis in France, had a lot of control during the time they burnt all the books and paintings. He had had dinner with his friend and his wife, and said they were acting funny. To this day, he still doesn't know why. I didn't have time to gleam anymore, but he invited me to come over for tea sometime. Seems old people find me charming," she finished smugly. Bonnie raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't flirt with him, Bonnie, I have self-respect now," she snapped at the hacker.

"Good job, Kat!" Caroline said, feeling hopeful. "When can you go round?"

"Well, he said I could call round tomorrow to talk to him," Katherine replied thoughtfully, picking at her muffin, "you should come too."

Caroline must have looked startled, as Katherine said "What? We're both part of this team, and you're equally as good at charming as I am."

Caroline found her voice again, and said "Alright, I'll go too. This is the closest we've gotten."

"That's settled, then," Katherine concluded.

"Try not to kill each other," Damon added helpfully, and Caroline had the feeling that the conversation about Elena was far from over.

Later that night, Caroline was in the room she shared with Bonnie, reading her book, when there was a knock at the door. She opened it, and said "well if it isn't the devil himself."

Klaus smirked at her. "The one and only. To kill a mockingbird?" he raised a brow.

"It's a classic," Caroline said defensively. "It was my favourite book as a teen. Now it just reminds me of why we do this job-to get justice for those who can't."

"And this job?" Klaus asked quietly, leaning against the doorframe. Caroline gripped her book tighter and sighed. "I'm working on that."

Klaus was silent for a moment. "Come with me," he commanded gruffly and turned away from the door. Caroline hesitated, and he turned back, his expression softening slightly. "Come with me. Take a chance, Caroline. I dare you." Caroline stared at him, then set her book aside and followed him out the door, letting him place his hand on the small of her back as her guided her through Elijah's sprawling penthouse into a room she hadn't been in before. She stopped for a second, taking in the sight before her. The room was filled with art. Paintings, drawings, sketches, different sceneries and abstract pieces. She strode into the room, eyes alight, taking in the sights before her. "You did these?" she asked, although it wasn't really a question.

Klaus made a noncommittal noise, and shuffled through the different papers as Caroline strolled around the room, looking at different pieces. She gingerly slid a few pages around on the desk, and came across the edge of a piece. Caroline tugged gently on its corner and spotted a strikingly familiar looking face.

Hers.

There was her face, over and over again, with different expressions of anger, confusion, happiness, bossiness, and one of ecstasy that made her blush and hastily put the picture back where she found it. "See something you like?" Klaus' amused voice made her jump. Caroline cleared her throat. "Just admiring the artwork is all."

"Oh, is that all?" Klaus asked, and something in his tone make Caroline's whirl around. He's practically on top of her, almost touching, but not quite. His moss green eyes are dark as he watches her, and once again she is reminded of his code name.

Wolf.

A predator.

Just like Klaus.

Caroline swallows, her eyes determinedly trained on his. "You said you wanted to show me something?"

"The world," he replied simply.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"I'd like to show you the world. I'm sure you've seen it, of course. But not with me," he grinned.

Caroline examined another picture. "Believe it or not, I haven't really been anywhere. The majority of my jobs are here, in the US."

"I could take you."

Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I mean it. Anywhere you'd like. Rome, Paris, Tokyo?"

Caroline gives him a rueful smile, then sighs. "I think there are other things to do first." She wraps her arms around herself, and Klaus wants to sigh in frustration. She's going back into her shell again. "Well, I did bring you here for a reason," Klaus said casually. Caroline glanced at him, and he is looking rather impish. "Close your eyes," he instructs, and for some reason, she does. She feels a jolt of electricity when he takes her hand, and then he places something in it and steps back. She opens her eyes and gasps. "My egg!"

Klaus chuckled. "Yes, mother hen. You're getting your egg." Caroline eyed him, then turned her attention back to the Faberge egg, biting her lip. "Nik, I can't….you got there first," she whispered. "I was outsmarted. You won." Klaus steps closer, until she can feel his chest brushing against her arm. "Love, I am giving it to you. Take it," She turns her head to talk to him, and finds his mouth right there, mere centimetres from hers. "I guess a thank you is in order," she murmurs as her mouth connects with his. She twists until she's facing him, fully in his arms, the egg long forgotten.

As suddenly as they were thrown together, Caroline breathily said "Nik," and the illusion is shattered. Caroline pulls away sharply, eyes wide. "I should, um-I'm just going to-yeah." And with that literate sentence, she bolts out of the room, leaving the Faberge egg on the workshop bench.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey guys! Back with another update- we're nearly at the mid way point of this story! This is quite a short'un, and kind of boring too to be honest. Wasn't my favourite chapter to write, it was around this I started getting writers block! But here it is, and I know you'll enjoy the next one. So put up with this one until Tuesday, eh? ;) As always- feel free to leave a review and tell me your thoughts! Have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'Wear me Out' by Skylar Grey, 'Tough Luck' by Nina Nesbitt, 'Afraid' by The Neighbourhood, and 'No Way Down' by The Shins.**

"Want to talk about it?" Katherine asked as she drove Caroline and herself to the man's house. She has her sunglasses on, and is sipping coffee as she drives. Caroline fidgets in her seat. "Stop that," Katherine snaps, and then sighs. "Sorry. I didn't get much sleep. And NOT because of Elijah, before you say anything," she adds. Caroline holds her hands up.

"I wasn't going to. You've been through a tough time."

"Yeah, well, I just want to get these three weeks over with," Katherine muttered. Caroline hesitates, and Katherine cut her eyes towards the blonde quickly. "Just spit it out, Caroline. You've been dying to talk to me."

"You were the one who invited me with you, I thought you wanted to talk!" Caroline protested.

"I invited you so you'd spill and stop making puppy dog faces at me," Katherine replied shorty. Caroline bites her lip. She isn't an insecure woman, but there's something about Katherine that makes Caroline feel so small.

"Katherine, I-" Caroline began. She paused, struggling to find the right words.

"You can say it, Caroline," Katherine breathed.

"It's my fault she's dead," Caroline blurted out.

Katherine glanced sideways at her.

"Moroney, he-he killed Elena to send a message to me. So I knew he was serious. That I couldn't outrun him. That everyone I cared about would die. It's my fault she's dead."

"I know."

"What do you mean you know?" Caroline asked sharply.

"I know why she died. Damon told me, he knew you'd be too scared to. And it would give me time to calm down so I'm not mad at you," Katherine replied simply.

Caroline gulped. "And-are you?"

Katherine shook her head. "Listen, Care. I'm not going to mollycoddle you and tell you it didn't happen because of you. It did, partially. But it was partially because of me, too. My sister knew the dangers of the job, and she knew the risks. She was willing to take them, and who was I to stop her? 'Lena loved you, Caroline. She wouldn't want you to feel guilty about this. So I'm honouring her wishes and I'm not going to rip your head off."

Caroline nodded. "Understood."

And that was that.

The two girls crawled to a stop outside a sprawling house on the outskirts of New York.

"Woah," Caroline breathed, staring at the building with admiration. She glanced at Katherine with raised eyebrows. "You sure this guy is above board?"

Katherine shrugged. "He came up clean," she replied as they got out of the car and strolled towards the house. Katherine rang the bell and smiled tightly at the young woman who answered the door. Caroline felt like she didn't have to worry about Kat being rude to the girl, who looked their age, as this young woman was being just as sour-if not more so-back.

"Hi, I was invited here for tea by Mr-"

"I know," she girl said shortly. "He'll be with you shortly."

With that, the girl stomped into the house, and Katherine shrugged at Caroline and followed her. They stopped in a dining room. "Seriously, no way this guy is legal," Caroline whispered. Katherine raised an eyebrow, taking in the surroundings. "I don't know, Care, I hear he's some big shot politician. Running for state governor, apparently."

Caroline looked up sharply. Surely not. It couldn't be. There had to be dozens of politicians. The girl-Vicky, they came to learn her name was- strutted back into the room. "Mr. Lockwood will see you now," she stated dully before leaving again.

"Lockwood?" Caroline hissed and Katherine flinched. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Katherine glared at her. "Caroline, keep your co-"

"Caroline!" came a new voice. Caroline grimaced, and put on a bright smile as she turned to the source of the voice. "Mr Lockwood, what a surprise!"

Richard Lockwood had aged in three years, partly due to his stressful job and a life of campaigning, and partly because of the loss of his younger brother, Mason, two years ago. His black hair was starting to grey, and he had his business smile in place. It was clear that while both Caroline and Richard had both changed a lot since their time in Mystic Falls, some things don't change, including his falsely sweet attitude towards her.

"Oh a surprise indeed! Katherine dear, you didn't say your friend would be our sweet Caroline!" he smiled.

"I wasn't aware you two knew each other," Katherine simpered.

Richard put his arm around Caroline's shoulder. "Oh we go way back. I didn't know you were in the city, Caroline!"

"Just visiting, Mr Lockwood," she answered, and it wasn't a complete lie. "How's Tyler?" Caroline felt obliged to ask about her ex, no matter how awkward things had gotten between them.

"My son is doing great! He's in his last year of law school now, actually. Working at my old firm for his placement year," he replied proudly.

"That's great," Caroline said lamely. Katherine, clearly bored of this pointless conversation, cut straight to the point. "So, Mr Lockwood, when you told me that your grandfather was a German soldier in the war, I was absolutely fascinated!" she proclaimed as they sat at the table, Vicky coming back with tea.

"It is an interesting story, Katherine, I have to admit. It was very difficult for him, starting over here in this country, he was treated with such inequality. That why I stand for equality in my campaign," he explained with his campaigner smile.

"Inspired as per usual, Richard," Caroline murmured.

"Well I for one have always loved art," Katherine gushed, "I loved it so much I did a degree in art history."

Richard made an acknowledging noise. "That explains the fascination with German history then, it has a vast and rich history. At least it did until the fires-by men who were just following orders," he was quick to clarify.

"Of course," Caroline agreed, feeling uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed. "Katherine here has been dying to know, where was your grandfather stationed during the war?"

Richard was quick to tell them that he had been stationed in Paris, during the time of censoring. He made them laugh with an anecdote here or there, and then went on to talk about his grandfather and his best friend. "You would have liked his wife, Katherine," he informed her as they finished off the tea. "She was an art dealer."

Katherine exclaimed appropriately, her eyes flitting to Caroline, who's lip quirked up in a tiny, almost unnoticeable smirk, unless you knew what to look for. "Oh, really?" Katherine asked with interest, "what is their nam-" at that moment, his phone rang, and Richard looked at them apologetically.

"I am so sorry ladies, but I have to take this. Excuse me." With that he rose from the table and left the room, already animatedly talking to whoever was on the other end of the phone. A door slammed somewhere in the house, and a male voice shouted 'dad?'

Footsteps familiar to Caroline thundered across the rooms, heading towards them and she braced herself, throwing herself into a conversation with Katherine, who-to her credit-rolled with it, replies slipping easily off her tongue. "Okay, Dad, I'm here for this apparently very important party now, but I'm not playing happy families until the-Caroline?"

A bag dropped to the floor. Caroline stood, a smile plastered onto her face. "Tyler!" Tyler let out a short laugh and hugged her, albeit awkwardly-she had dumped him on his ass when her dad died. "What are you doing here?" she asked cheerfully.

"Well, I live here, Care," he said dryly and she shoved him. "In all seriousness, I've been living in an apartment further into the city, but Dad has this party this weekend with all his big wigs and I've been roped in," he grimaced, and Caroline clucked sympathetically.

"Playing happy families as per usual?" she asked archly and he rolled his eyes.

"So what are you doing in my house, Forbes?" he asked playfully and she giggled.

"Well my friend Katherine-Katherine, Tyler, Tyler, Katherine- met your Dad at a party and got to talking, and he invited her and a friend to tea. I was in town so Katherine invited me, and it turned out to be Richard! It's a small world after all, huh? Not much has changed from Mystic Falls," Caroline laughed, and he laughed in agreement.

"No, definitely not. Just on a wider scale," he admitted, then paused. "Look, I know this is short notice, but-would you like to come to this shindig dad is throwing? For old times' sake? It'll be more bearable with a familiar face. Your friend-Katherine, right? You are welcome to come too," he assured her, and Katherine smiled in thanks.

"Wouldn't miss it, would we, Care?" Her eyes widened at Caroline slightly, who's eyed her and then her smile upped a wattage. "We'd love to go."


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hey guys! I'm backkkkkkkk! Not that I was gone too long, but it felt like forever because-let's be honest- the last chapter was kinda boring. But we met Tyler! And some of you were really quite excited about that! Used to ship Forwood so hard. :') Anyway, onto bigger (massive chapter) and better (loads of exciting moments) things! I HOPE HOPE HOPE you enjoy this chapter, and I think you might also kind of hate me at the end. Yikes. **

**HAS ANYONE BEEN WATCHING TEEN WOLF BECAUSE SO MUCH DRAMA AND STYDIA. GAH. **

**Enjoy the chapter- please leave a review, I'm dying to know what you think about this one- and have a great day!**

**(Also please remember this entire story takes place over three weeks, so most of the events are spaced out a little bit.)**

**Enjoy!**

**SONG RECS: Will be at the bottom!**

"So, Tyler," Caroline asked as she walked around Richard's office in a slow circle, taking in every detail. Tyler was at the liquor cabinet, pouring them a drink. They'd slipped out of the party to 'catch up', and Caroline was pretty sure where this was heading-down, like Tyler's sobriety- so her best tactic was to be frank. She also hadn't missed the familiar curly haired man glowering in the corner at her, his drink glass looking precariously close to being smashed in his fist as she spent more and more of the night glued to Tyler's side, him becoming bolder with his actions and her returning in kind. "Your dad actually told us some interesting stories about your family history," Tyler raised an eyebrow at that, handing her a drink.

"Really," he asked, but it wasn't posed as a question.

"Uh huh. He was trying to tell us about your grandfather's friend, but he didn't get telling us his name." She sauntered over to him, setting her drink on a table as she went. "Katherine would be livid if I didn't try to get a name," she pouted. "You wouldn't happen to remember, would you?" she batted her eyes at him, her fingers trailing lazily up and down his arm.

"Hmm," Tyler thought, his arm clumsily snaking around her waist. "Not really."

"Oh, but I bet you could try," she whispered, her head moving backwards as his came forwards.

"I don't really remember, Caroline," he muttered as she leaned forward and placed teasing, feather light kisses on his neck.

"Try? For me?" she urged, and she could tell his clarity of mind and patience were slipping.

"I don't remember their name, but I met a girl when I was on a business trip. She told me she was going to meet her biological parents, and Dad later recognised the name, saying that was my great-grandfather's best friend's son," he mumbled, and Caroline felt like she could have screamed in frustration.

"Do you remember anything? A name? A place?"

"Woah, questions much?" he grinned at her. "Someone seems a little jealous."

"Maybe," she giggled. "Tell me, my insecure nature has calmed, I promise."

"It was in New Orleans," he informed her finally, tipping her chin up to meet him, "and her name was Hayley."

Caroline closed her eyes as Tyler's lips were about to descend onto hers, but they never did. Instead she heard a crash as Tyler was flung backwards. "Sorry, mate," Klaus grunted using an American accent, "she's taken."

"Caroline didn't say she had a boyfriend," Tyler stated, looking angry. Caroline glared at Klaus.

"Well she does. Me. And I suggest you step out before I do something I'll regret." Klaus turned his back on Tyler, facing Caroline, who scowled at him. She heard a click and her eyes widened as she spotted Tyler pointing a gun at the back of Klaus' head. Why the hell did he have that thing? Well, he was a Senator's son.

"Nik!" she yelled desperately, pushing him away. "Tyler, just calm down," she said calmly, moving forward.

"Get out," Tyler ground out, still training the gun on Klaus, but Caroline had managed to manoeuvre it so she was in the way.

"Angel," Klaus warned, and she held a hand out to stop him.

"It's alright, Tyler," Caroline spoke soothingly. "We're leaving. I just have one thing to do first, okay?" with that she surged forward and kissed Tyler firmly, and he automatically wrapped his arms around her, getting into it. Caroline opened her eyes, and glanced at Klaus as she slipped the gun from Tyler's hand. He was seething, Caroline could tell, and she decided to up the ante and slip her fingers into Tyler's dark hair. Klaus got rid of the bullets in the gun and used the butt of the gun to land a clean hit to the back of Tyler's head. Tyler instantly fell backwards, and Klaus caught him, and then dropped him unceremoniously to the ground. Caroline wiped at the edges of her mouth with a tissue, wiping off her lipstick.

"He's going to remember," Klaus said tightly. Caroline shook her head.

"No he won't. The combination of the hit to the head and the special ingredient I put in the lipstick, he's just going to think he got drunk and fell and hit his head. Hopefully," she added as an afterthought. "I haven't tested this bad boy out that often." She stopped rambling when she saw that Klaus had a face like thunder. "We're leaving," he said lowly, and Caroline glared at him before strutting out of the side room ahead of him.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked Kol as she was passing from her room to the kitchen. Kol didn't look up from Elijah's wide screen TV.

"Watching a movie. Neither Nik or Caroline has given me anything to go on, so I might as well watch it." Bonnie rested her hands on the back of the sofa.

"Die Hard?" she asked, and Kol turned to her. "What? I like those movies," she said defensively.

"Yeah, it is," he replied.

"The third one, right?" she asked.

"How do you know that? You just saw a few minutes," Kol protested. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"It just said Simon says, Kol," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh."

Bonnie disappeared into the kitchen, and wandered back in a few minutes later with two beers. She plopped down next to him on the sofa. "What?" she asked after he gave her a questioning look. "I said I like these movies!"

"I like them too," Kol said quietly, taking the beer she offered him. "Not really the fourth one, though, because-"

"Because of the fear that the whole-making-computer-hackers-go-boom thing could happen to you," she finished for him. Kol grinned ruefully at her. "Yeah."

"But you watch it anyway, because you think Maggie Q is hot?" she guessed, and his grinned turned wolfish. "Where have you been all my life, Bonnie Bennett?"

"Behind a computer screen," she answered solemnly, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence and watched the movie.

They were silent as they sat close together side by side, and Bonnie was starting to nod off on Kol's shoulder when the front door opened and was slammed shut again. It was then opened and closed again. "I cannot believe you!" Caroline yelled at Klaus as she stormed away.

"Me? ME? What did I do?!"

Kol and Bonnie sprang apart and sank low into the sofa, peering over the top of the back of it at the bickering thieves.

"He was my mark, you idiot!" Caroline stomped off into her room.

"How was I supposed to know?"

"I was warming him up all night!" she screamed from her room. Klaus stood on the other side of the door, hollering back. "Is that what you call it, love? I call it being draped across him the whole night!"

Kol glanced at Bonnie. "I do hate it when mum and dad fight," he whispered.

Bonnie said sagely "he's jealous."

"He is?"

"Yes!"

"Oh." They both peered over the sofa again to see Klaus practically break down the door to Caroline's room and they heard a stream of colourful swear words being yelled by Caroline. Bonnie flinched. "Wow, they are loud."

"No, loud would be if they had hot anger sex." He paled. "Oh God, you don't think they're going to have hot anger sex, do you?"

Bonnie furrowed her brow. "No!" she paused. "Maybe. I don't know." She shuddered. "I do NOT want to hear that."

Kol paused. "Want to go for a beer?" Bonnie leapt up.

"Fine. Just in case," she added.

"Just in case," he agreed. "Hey Bonnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we have hot anger sex? You hate me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you're getting the beer."

"You're a bastard, Klaus!" Caroline said quietly as she stomped around her room, kicking off her heels and taking out her earrings.

"Your job was to gain information, not to let him slobber all over you," he growled.

"Okay, for one, dick wad, I KNOW Tyler. We went to high school together, and the first way to turn him into a blabbermouth is to turn him on," she ground out. Caroline threw her clutch to the ground. "His brain is connected to his dick, as soon as it raises his brain cells count lowers."

Klaus' jaw ticked. "You didn't have to be rubbing yourself all over him!"

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" Caroline screamed, frustrated, as she whirled on him.

"You were a bloody idiot and stood in front of a gun!" he barked back. Caroline scoffed.

"You would have a bullet hole lodged in you right now if I hadn't had!"

"It was stupid and reckless!"

"Says the one who could have blown this ENTIRE OPERATION!" she screamed at him, throwing her hands in the air.

"I didn't ask for you to jump in front of the gun!"

"I saved your life, what the fuck is wrong with that?" she ground out.

"You almost got yourself killed in the process!" he hollered at her, and she blinked in shock as he stalked towards her. "Tell me, Caroline, what use would it be if you were hit by a bullet, hmm? You're the one running this thing."

"It's a team effort," she protested.

"What good would it be if we got your mother back and you were dead?" he roared at her. "Would she care? Would Bonnie care? Would it have avenged Elen-" He didn't get to finish that sentence, as Caroline landed a sharp blow to his cheek. "Don't you dare!" she yelled.

"Don't I dare what? Speak the truth? It's true, Caroline! What would it matter to your team if you were dead?"

"You don't know anything about me, or my team," she growled. "They would understand. I would die to protect anyone on this team!"

"That's your problem, Caroline," he said lowly. "You don't care about getting hurt."

Caroline lifted her chin. "What does it matter to you, Klaus?" she bit out. Klaus smirked.

"Oh, it doesn't, love. I just don't feel like cleaning up more of your messes."

Caroline screamed in frustration and leapt at him, punching and kicking whatever she could reach. It wasn't clean, thought out or calculated; she just saw red and had to get it out. Klaus didn't expect it, so she managed to knock him back, landing sharp blows. Klaus finally got the upper hand, flipping them so her back was to the wall and she was pinned there. "You're a bastard," she spat. "I saved your life, and this is how you react? Why the hell did you react like that? Next time, I-" She was cut off as Klaus' lips landed roughly on hers, and Caroline was so surprised she didn't react at first, until his tongue slipped into her mouth and she was kissing him back, trying to convey everything she couldn't say. They were both angry, bitter, and broken. She just needed to feel...something, and she knew Klaus could give her that. Because he was the exact same way. Her hands eagerly started ripping his shirt, and he made short work of her dress and they tumbled on to the bed, skin against skin and closer and more alive than Caroline had felt in a long time.

She didn't love Klaus Mikaelson.

But she was beginning to think she was going to.

He didn't say a word when she slipped out of the room the next morning.

He didn't say anything when it happened again, after a particularly rough or unproductive day she'd storm into his room and hiss at him "this means nothing," as she makes short work of his clothes.

She would say nothing when he'd stalk into her room after her having to get particularly close to a mark, kissing her and throwing her onto the bed.

He didn't have to say anything, then. His jealous devil was roaring and screaming and every action screamed 'mine, she's mine.'

He didn't love Caroline Forbes.

He didn't love her bossiness, her flare for the dramatics, her nagging, or her snark. He didn't love the way she cared about everyone, the way she drank too much when she was jealous, or the way that she flipped her hair away from her face and scrunched her nose when she was frustrated.

He didn't love Caroline Forbes.

And he couldn't afford to start.

Caroline did say something, however, when he slipped away from her one night and disappeared out of the apartment completely. After a moment's hesitation, she followed him after a while, all the way to a nearby alley.

"Are we close?" came the eager voice of one of Klaus' lackeys.

"No," Klaus replied curtly.

"But boss-"

"We aren't doing it."

"What?"

"We aren't doing it," Klaus repeated. "I'm calling it off."

"It's the Anghiari, boss. If we swiped that-we'd be set for life!" Caroline froze at that, feeling her heart stop. "We don't need it," Klaus insisted. "There are other paintings to steal, Slater," he reminded him.

"Not the Anghiari," Slater said mournfully. "I don't get it. We're in prime position to take it from them! What has made you-Jesus Christ."

"What?" Caroline scuttled back; sure they must have seen her.

"You've gone soft," Slater accused. "You're in love with her." Klaus barked a laugh.

"Please, Slater. The only reason I'm calling it off is because then Moroney will be on our backs. She means nothing to me." Caroline grimaced, and clutched a hand to her chest as she stumbled blindly, trying to pull herself together. She tuned out of the conversation, she didn't need to hear any more. "Well then, maybe we'll send Trevor to her for a visit," Slater said nonchalantly, "he's been dying to repay the favour in kin- Klaus snapped, pinning Slater to the wall by the throat.

"You seem to forget who's in charge around here," he hissed. "I am. And no one is going near my girl." Caroline knocked into a bin, and then swore quickly. Klaus and Slater both looked up to see her standing in the mouth of the alley, trembling. Whether it was with hurt or anger, Klaus didn't know.

He hoped to God it wasn't both.

"Angel-" he started, and that was it for Caroline.

"Don't, you bastard," she bit back. "Don't you dare."

And with that, she did what Caroline did best.

She disappeared.

Klaus released Slater, running to the mouth of the alley and glancing both ways, not spotting her. He swore, and fired a bin lid across the alley. Slater's low chuckle made Klaus want to strangle him.

"Looks like she's not your girl, boss," he spoke lazily. "So? Are you in?"

**AN: …**

**Oh dear?**

**Don't hurt me guys, there are many more chapters to come and things to happen! I left the song recommendations to the end because I guess some are kind of spoilery? Also I have certain songs for certain bits so I'll write the song and when it should be played to make it a little easier for you!**

**SONG RECS:**

**Caroline and Tyler: 'Do I wanna know?' by The Arctic Monkeys**

**Bonnie and Kol: 'Back to You' by Twin Forks. **

**Klaroline kissy face: 'Rosé' by The Feeling. **

**Klaroline sexy times: 'Magik' by The Klaxons**

**The betrayal: 'Seven Devils' by Florence + The Machine (Because I love that song for dramatic moments)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hey guys! This one will be going up a little early because I'm heading to an Imagine Dragons concert tonight! This chapter will hopefully tide you over until Tuesday. Enjoy and have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'Nothing Else Matters' by Lissie, and 'Don't Let Me Go' by RAIGN. **

"Caroline, open the bloody door!"

No reply.

"Caroline."

Silence.

"Caroline for fuck sake, would you let me in to explain?"

Once again, he was met with a wall of disdain and silence. It had been like this as soon as he had entered the apartment. Everyone was there, of course, and looking like they wanted his head on a stake. He didn't doubt she had already told them all.

He was almost glad, in a way, that his family was sitting glaring at him too. They'd obviously passed the inspection of not having been in on it too, and Klaus was glad he hadn't involved them. They'd made allies here, friends, even. Klaus wouldn't be the one to rip that away from them. Klaus went to lift his fist to bang on Caroline's door once more-it had remained shut since he had come in to the apartment- when Damon spoke.

"Don't."

Klaus ignored him and raised his fist again, when a small hand with sharp claws grabbed his wrist and dug her nails in painfully. "If you knock on that door one more time, so help me God, I will knock out your teeth," Katherine hissed at him.

"She isn't going to talk to you," Rebekah informed him curtly. She looked rather bored by the whole situation, sitting on a sofa with Vogue magazine, but he could tell by the way his baby sister was clutching the pages a little too tightly that she was anxious.

"I need to talk to her," he insisted. "I need to, Katherine," he looked the brunette in the eye, and she saw his pleading gaze. She remained unimpressed. "I don't fucking think so."

Bonnie bumped into him as she passed. "Are you a thief or not?" she whispered exasperatedly. "Wait until she moves, and then get in," she strode past him, and it was like she hadn't spoken at all.

He'd have to remember to thank the hacker later.

He sat outside the room and raised his eyebrows at Katherine. "She's going to come out at some stage. I can wait." Katherine threw her hands in the air and waltzed off out of sight. Klaus swiftly got up and made swift work of picking the lock of Caroline's door before slipping in and shutting it silently before anyone could notice.

"Get out," came Caroline's low voice. Taking a breath, he turned away from the door to face her in her surprisingly messy room. She was standing in the mouth of her en suite with her arms crossed.

"Not until I talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to you. There's nothing to talk about."

"Yes, there is. I-Caroline I'm aware of how it must have seemed-"

Caroline barked out a laugh. "How it must have seemed? It was pretty clear, Klaus. You've been a traitor since the start. That's why you agreed, isn't it?" she asked.

Klaus didn't reply, and her gaze hardened. "That's all I need to know."

"Caroline-"

"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't call me that. Don't call me anything."

"It started out like that, yes. I was in it for the Anghiari."

She shook her head. "How could you do that to someone, Klaus? I- I trusted you," Caroline's voice cracked.

"I-" Klaus cut off. Caroline waited.

"You can't even say it, can you? Jesus, is it really that hard for you? Do you really have no heart?" Klaus' jaw tightened at that. "More than you'll ever know," he muttered.

"Get out!" she ordered.

"No, not until you understand!" he said desperately. "I called it off, I swear I did. I was going to do it, I was going to steal it, but I changed my mind-"

"How noble of you," she scoffed.

"YOU changed my mind, Caroli-" He was met with a sharp blow across the cheek. Caroline was staring at him, chest heaving. "I said," she said quietly, "to not call me that. And to get out."

"You need to know-"

"I need to know what?" she snapped. "That I mean nothing to you? That I was just a-a quick fuck?" she spat the word, "I already got that message, loud and clear." Klaus grimaced.

"It isn't true. You know it isn't true. I had to say that."

"You didn't have to do anything," she hissed. "Now leave."

"Wait-"

"GET OUT!" She yelled, pushing his chest as she battered her fists. "I hate you! Get out of here, you son of a bitch!"

"You need to calm down-"

"She'll calm down when you leave," came a hard voice from the doorway. It was Elijah.

"It's time to go, Klaus," Damon stated firmly.

"But-"

"Leave," Caroline said coldly her arms crossed. "You need to leave."

"I'm-" Klaus started.

"You're what?" she screamed. "You're sorry? No, you're not, you aren't CAPABLE of being sorry, you aren't CAPABLE of love, and you aren't CAPABLE of being saved!" With each capable she shoved him in the chest, further away from her and closer to the door. Klaus turned around to look at his siblings. They were staring back at him, faces void of emotion, which was not as bad as seeing Caroline. She looked hurt, angry, frustrated, wild, broken, and-

heartbroken.

He couldn't stand seeing her like that anymore; especially knowing it was he who caused it.

He turned to leave when Stefan stopped him at the door. "Listen-I know what it feels like. To be left by you." Klaus looked confused. Stefan rolled his eyes. "I don't mean like that. You were like a brother to me, made me grow close to you, and then you left. And it hurts. But-I don't think you'd do that on purpose to her, you didn't to me." Klaus considered his old friend, and nodded.

"Thank you."

"I'll work on them," Stefan promised. "I'll keep you updated."

Klaus smiled gratefully at him, and then left.

"Caroline?" Kol asked, and for once, he seemed hesitant. Caroline straightened, and wiped her eyes.

"Yes?"

"What do we- do we continue on?" he queried.

"We stick to the plan," she informed him stiffly. "Nothing has changed. We're striking a day early. Any problems?" she asked her team. Kol started spluttering about how they needed more time to access the inside, and Bonnie covered his mouth.

"We've got it," the hacker said firmly.

"Yes, we do. It won't be a problem. Get into the house, we'll distract, you'll retrieve, set it all back up, and we're out of there." Rebekah recited.

"Caroline," Damon grimaced. "We still need the replacement."

"We'll find another one," she replied shortly. Caroline turned to Katherine, who shook her head.

"I told you, he's out," Katherine said firmly.

"But if we told him-"

"Jeremy isn't in the business anymore, Care. He wants no part of this, and frankly, I don't want him to." Caroline sighed and rubbed her temples.

"Surely another one of you Mikaelson's can paint?" Caroline asked hopefully, and was met with snorts and 'as if's'.

"'Fraid not, Queenie. I have other talents, though," Kol added. Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Like what?"

"Well, little sister-"

"We're twins, Kol, and I'm older than you."

"Shut it, Bek's. As I was saying, I do have a talent. I can touch my nose with my tongue."

Caroline laughed, and after a minute, the others did too.

She was going to miss Kol. He made them laugh, even when they wanted to cry.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hey guys! Again, this is slightly early as I won't have access to internet tomorrow! Things are starting to pick up now! We're on chapter 11 of 18, where has the time went! The chapters are slightly shorter now as quite a lot is happening so this keeps it in order! I hope you enjoy and I just want to put out a disclaimer that I have never watched an episode of The Originals. So any familiar characters I've probably butchered so I'm blaming it on poetic license. Please leave a review and I hope you enjoy!**

**Have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'Bottom of The River' by Delta Rae, 'Bloodletting' by Concrete Blonde, and 'House of the Rising Sun' by The Animals.**

The flight to New Orleans wasn't nearly as eventful as the one to New York.

The flight to New York has been boisterous, wary, and obnoxious and...cold. They were more at ease with each other now, and there was less full on fighting. There was still bickering, of course, but that was normal when you had such a large group with such large personalities. Whilst there had been definite sides on the last flight, this time the group intertwined, showing no split or way to differentiate them. The group of eight arrived amidst parades and carnivals, with people on stilts and live jazz bands keeping the crowds happy and pulsing with the atmosphere.

"Smart buggers," Rebekah remarked, "staying in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. That many tourists flying in, no one would suspect a thing."

They were silent as they thought about what they were about to embark on. They had to be here. It had to be here. There was no other choice, no other option. The painting had to be here, or they'd hit a dead end. If they'd hit a dead end...Caroline didn't want to think about that. Not when they were so close.

Not when they'd lost so much already.

No, Caroline thought. She refused to think about him and what he had done to them. The first time she met him, she wanted to best him.

This time she was determined she was going to.

She shoved all thoughts of a certain Mikaelson to the back of her mind.

They only problem they faced in New Orleans is that they didn't know who they were up against. Tyler had given them a name-Hayley. That was all they knew. No one knew her last name, where she came from, who she is, or who her parents are.

Except Rebekah, who had an inkling she knew just the person who could find out. "Come on," she said finally, deciding the silence had gone on long enough, "we'd better hurry up. Our only hope is we take him by surprise, and he has people everywhere. They'll spot us."

"Rebekah!" A handsome, dark skinned man with a massive yet lazy smile that strongly reminded Caroline of the Cheshire Cat greeted them as the group stepped into the bar. The man was sitting on a raised platform in the bar, his feet on the table in front of him.

"Marcel," Rebekah greeted coolly, and it was obvious there was history between them.

"What a surprise to see you here, baby girl," he said easily, but it was staged as a question.

Rebekah batted her eyes. "Oh, of course it isn't, Marcel. You knew I'd come back to you, my heart belongs to you, I'm yours," she bit out sarcastically.

Marcel raised an eyebrow. "How you wound me."

Rebekah sat in front of him, pushing his feet off the table. "Here's the deal, sweetheart," she said, and Caroline felt a pang in her heart, hearing such familiar words. "I need information."

"And why would you think I have information?" Marcel asked.

"Cut the crap, Marcel," Kol cut in, earning a look from Elijah. "You're the 'King of New Orleans'. You know everything about everyone here."

"I did learn from the best," Marcel deflected. "Trust nobody, know everything. Keep your enemies close," he winked at Rebekah, who looked at him in disgust. In a split second, she tipped his chair back and had him on his back and her heel pressed to his throat. "I don't have time for this," she hissed at him. "We are on a tight schedule, that's the problem. Who is Hayley?"

"Hayley? Now where do I know that name…." he mused, and Rebekah pressed down harder. The girl behind the bar looked terrified and as pale as a sheet. Obviously not in the business, then, Caroline thought. "You need to work with me, Bek's," Marcel said casually. "Let me up so I can speak." Rebekah glanced back at Caroline, who had become their sole leader since Klaus left. Caroline nodded, and Rebekah moved reluctantly, not before landing a sharp kick to his ribs. Marcel chuckled as he slid into his seat. "Still hasn't forgiven me," he announced to the thieves. "Cami, darling, be a dear and get me a beer, would you?" he called to the girl behind the bar.

Cami quickly got a beer and left it in front of Marcel on the table. Before she could fully step away, Caroline had grabbed Cami and a knife from the table behind her and was holding the shaking blonde to her, the knife poised against the girl's throat. Stefan hissed at her "what are you doing?"

Caroline ignored him.

Damon shifted from one foot to another. Neither Salvatore brother liked it when Caroline got like this. Dangerous. They knew she was a thief, but Caroline wasn't like Damon, who was emotional and rash, or Stefan, who was always too lenient and forgiving. Caroline, however-she was cold. Calculating. Only doing something if she knew she had to. That was what made her worse than her brothers-she knew exactly what she was doing, and she was able to justify it. While Damon acted in blind rage, and Stefan hated himself after, Caroline felt justified.

"Well then Marcel, we have ourselves a bit of a predicament," Caroline said coldly as she tightened her grip. "You have something I want, and I have something you want. How's about we swap? Give me all the information you have on Hayley, and I'll give you your waitress back. Deal?" Marcel glanced uneasily between the two blondes before he nodded to a hulking man standing near a door. He disappeared, and soon came back to tense silence holding a file. Marcel nodded at it. "Here. This contains all the information I have on Hayley Marshall." Damon took the file and Caroline released Cami, who stumbled over to Marcel. He caught her, scanning her for injuries before handing her off to another one of his men.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Marcel," Rebekah said, smiling sweetly. The thieves started to walk past the King of New Orleans when he whistled. "I have to admit, I'm glad your brother isn't here, Rebekah. Don't fancy him taking what I worked for here."

"You mean what you took over?" Rebekah asked bitterly. Caroline bristled. So He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named had been the original King of New Orleans. Marcel grinned at Rebekah. "I still ended up ruling, didn't I?" He eyed up Caroline. "I can see why he likes you. You're his girl, aren't you?"

Caroline didn't react at first, but as she stepped closer to get past Marcel, her hand shot out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him close. "I'm nobody's girl."

XXXX

"What the hell was that?!" Stefan demanded the moment they were out the door. Caroline kept walking.

"You could have blown the bloody thing! Do you know who he is?" Rebekah exclaimed.

"Yes, and I also know that the way he was looking at that waitress and the way she was staring at him meant there was budding young romance there. My bet was that he wouldn't budge if we threatened him, but if we threatened her? He'd crack. We got what we needed, didn't we?" Caroline stated matter-of-factly.

There was a long pause, until Bonnie asked finally, "Were you going to hurt her? The girl?"

"It didn't come to that."

"But if it did?"

"It didn't come to that!" Caroline insisted.

"Jesus Christ, Caroline!" Bonnie cried. "She was an innocent girl. What is the matter with you?"

"What is the matter with me?" Caroline mused, "Let's see….my best friend has been murdered, my mother is being held captured by a crazy mob boss, and I have less than two weeks to get a painting that probably doesn't exist or she-and you-die. So it's actually quite a lot, isn't it?" She spoke bitterly.

Caroline didn't think she should bother saying she'd been used and messed with by Klaus, who she definitely didn't start developing feelings for.

No way.

"Caroline, at this rate you're going to get yourself killed, and then we won't get your mother back," Rebekah snapped.

"Hey, lay off her!" Katherine protested. "I'd like to see you in this position."

"We've been in this position, dear," Elijah said gently, and Katherine whirled round to him. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Our mother was held by someone Father had gotten on the wrong side of. She was murdered because he didn't give a damn," Rebekah said icily, and Kol shuffled his feet. Bonnie bit her lip, and reached towards him, taking his hand and squeezing it. Kol smiled gratefully at her.

"Nik wasn't very impressed with that," he remembered bitterly. Rebekah shushed him, and Caroline's face hardened. "Then you'll know why this is so important to me-I will stop at nothing to get my mother back. I've already lost two fathers and a best friend. I won't lose my mom too," she finished with determination as she walked away.

"Dad didn't die for you to get yourself killed," Damon called after her.

She didn't look back.

"This is ridiculous," Bonnie stated exasperatedly.

"She's going to get herself killed," Kol agreed.

"Like hell she is," Rebekah snapped and then turned to Stefan. "Do it."

Stefan was already walking away from them. "Hey, it's me. You know the way I said I'd keep you updated? Well, here's the thing….."


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hey guys! Back with another chapter, I hope you enjoy! So I go back to school next Wednesday, so Tuesday's post should happen as normal but Friday's will be later in the day, as will all the other chapters after that! Posting days should hopefully remain the same though. This will be a bit of a love hate chapter, I can tell. I hope you enjoy and have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: At the end of the chapter.**

"What do you mean she went after Marcel?" Klaus asked tightly, his phone pressed to his ear.

"Well, your darling sister said she knew a way to get information, and Caroline kind of lost it?" Stefan offered hesitantly.

"Elaborate, Stefan," Klaus growled.

"She may have gone after the blonde-"

"Cami?"

"Yeah, her. I'm not even going to ask how you know her. Anyway, she went at her with a knife. The poor girl was held at butter knife point. I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

"Jesus Christ, that's Marcel's girl," Klaus swore. "She's going to get herself killed."

"Well, that seems to be the plan, with the way she's going. She just doesn't care anymore."

"She's forgotten why she does this," Klaus murmured to himself.

"It's a suicide mission, Klaus."

"I know," Klaus sighed, rubbing his temples. "Look mate, I can't come out there. I'm a little tied up at the moment, and they wouldn't let me within a ten foot pole of them, even if you vouched for me. Just try and get her to see the light again, until I can get the message across to her."

"Alright," Stefan said slowly. "Klaus, you're not still working again-"

"I need you to do something for me," Klaus said suddenly.

"What is it?" Stefan asked tiredly.

"Keep her alive. Protect her, no matter how stupid what she does is. You're it, Stefan. You have to keep her safe. I will talk sense into her, I swear it."

"You think I already aren't?" Stefan asked dryly. "She's my sister. Of course I'm going to dig her out of whatever hole she gets herself into."

"Good job, mate. I'll get to her somehow. Good luck."

"You too, buddy. You too."

X.x.X.

"Okay, what do we have here…." Kol murmured, fingers tapping away at the laptop in front of him.

Bonnie sifted through the file that Marcel had given them, laying out pieces of relevant information. "It looks like Hayley Marshall was adopted and didn't know her birth parents until the age of eighteen, when she came to New Orleans to find them. They are who she's staying with now."

"Do you think she knows about it?" Kol asked, and Bonnie glanced at him. "The painting, that is. She didn't even start looking for her parents until she turned eighteen."

Bonnie shrugged. "Legally, she couldn't start looking for them. It was a closed adoption, she knew nothing about them. The painting? That's the difficult part," she grimaced.

"If they do know…."

"Then it's going to be a lot harder."

"Yeah." Kol paused. "I know we have someone to make the fake, but how can we make a fake if…"

"If we don't even know what it looks like? I have no clue. Elijah said he had it covered." Bonnie sighed.

"Well my brother is nothing if not thorough, so if he says he has it covered, then he has it covered. He's means and methods-I don't even want to know."

"Elijah?" Bonnie asked, shocked. "But he always seems so-"

"Stiff upper lip, with a stick up his arse?" Kol supplied cheekily, and Bonnie shoves him.

"I was going to say polite."

"My bad," Kol shrugged, not sounding very sorry at all.

They settle back into comfortable silence, the only sound is the pads of their fingers hitting the keys on their laptops. Kol's head picked up when Bonnie's fingers stilled. "What is it?" he asked, leaning over. Bonnie bit her lip and placed her laptop on the table in front of her. "Do you think we can do this?"

"Get information on this Hayley doll? Yeah, sure," Kol said easily, and Bonnie shook her head.

"No. Get this case finished and save Caroline's Mom. Find the Anghiari." Kol paused in thought. "Honestly?" He asked finally, and Bonnie nodded, "I don't know. Everyone is knocking their pan out, and I don't doubt Caroline's leadership skills, I don't, but I just don't know if there's enough time."

Bonnie nodded glumly. "If we had more time and it was any other painting it would be fine. It HAD to be the Anghiari, didn't it," she muttered.

"Moroney is nothing if not awkward," Kol agreed. Hesitantly, he placed his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. He told her not yelling at him as a good sign. "Bonnie, just because we have our doubts doesn't mean it isn't going to work. We're going to be cutting it close, but everyone in this business does. Doesn't mean we won't get the job done," he finished gently. Bonnie swallowed a lump in her throat.

"I'm just-what if it isn't this simple, what if they're feeding us false information…what if I give them the wrong information and get Caroline's mom killed-"

"No," Kol said firmly, "we won't get this wrong."

"How?" Bonnie demanded, "how can you possibly know that?"

"Well," Kol caved, "I don't. But I'm not wrong very often, and I'm counting on this to continue my winning streak," he grinned.

Bonnie laughed, then fell silent. "Kol?" she asked hesitantly, and he quirked a brow at her.

"Yes, darling?"

"Will…." She paused, struggling to find the right words. "If we don't pull this off. If we head back to Chicago empty handed, or we fail, I want you to promise me something."

Kol furrowed his brow. "That depends what it is."

"I nee-I want you to promise me that if this doesn't pan out, you'll go into hiding. Go underground, make yourself seen everywhere we aren't, make it seem like you have nothing to do with us. Take your family, of course," she added hastily, "but there's a chance Moroney doesn't know you worked with us, there's a chance you can get out of this scot free."

Kol looked at her, his face morphing from an expression of shock to disgust. "Is that really what you think of me Bonnie? You think I'd just swan off and leave you all in this mess, feed you to Moroney? That's what you think I'd do?"

"I-" Bonnie stammered.

"No, for once I'm doing the talking," Kol snapped. "After all we've been through together, you think I'm planning on leaving the moment this goes south? Sweetheart, things went south quite a while ago, and I'm still here, along with Rebekah and Elijah, I might add. I-we stayed because we knew it right thing to do, and we care. And you think so low of me, that I'd just leave?" he demanded, and Bonnie stared at him silently. He scoffed. "Forget it-" he was interrupted as Bonnie suddenly surged forward and kissed him. Kol was taken aback but his arms automatically wrapped around her waist until he pulled back. Bonnie rested her forehead against his. "I can't lose you, okay?" she whispered, her eyes screwed shut. "I just can't."

Kol smiled. "I knew you'd like me eventually."

Bonnie grimaced and pulled away from him. "Kol…" she trailed off, and his smile slipped off his face. She shrugged helplessly at him, and he sighed. "I know, Bonnie. I know."

"It's just….with this case, and with everything that is happening, we….we can't be selfish right now," she finished lamely, and Kol's smile turned heart wrenchingly sad.

"I can wait, Bonnie. I know you think I always joke around, but I'm serious. I always am with you. I can wait." He paused. "But I'm not leaving, no matter how hard you try to get me to," he added.

**AN: …..DO YOU HERE THE PEOPLE SING,**

**SINGING THE SONGS OF KENNETT, **

**THIS IS THE MUSIC OF MY SHIPPERS WHO CANNOT BE TAMED AGAIN!**

**Tehehe.**

**SONG RECS: 'Sweather Weather' by the Neighbourhood, 'Burn With You' by Lea Michele, and 'All About You' by Birdy.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey guys! Ahhh this story is coming to an end! There's only four more chapters and an epilogue after this! We're on the home stretch now, which means DRAMA AND ACTION! I hope you guys enjoy, things are getting serious now! I hope y'all enjoy and have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'You Found Me' by The Fray, and 'Change' by Churchill. **

"Hello?" Caroline answered her phone shortly from where she lay on her bed.

"'Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"

Caroline froze, her heart pounding. "Klaus?" she whispered.

"Don't hang up, Caroline, I'm not going to apologise again because I know you'll just hang up. But please, listen to me. You can't let what is happening consume you. You once told me that you didn't steal from innocent people-"

"No one is innocent, Klaus," Caroline pointed out flatly.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can let yourself go and become a bad person. You read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' to remind you why you do this-to serve justice to those who deserve it. But remember sweetheart-" his voice cut off and Caroline gripped the phone tightly, until she heard a sharp 'Bollocks!' from outside her window. She stormed to the window and yanks it open to reveal Klaus standing sheepishly outside it. "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird," he finishes finally, and she stares him down.

"Give me one good reason that I shouldn't push you off that fire escape."

"Love, did you miss the whole speech I just gave you?"

"Are you saying you're a mockingbird now?" she asked dryly, and he gulps.

"Well, no. No, not really," he said ruefully.

"Then get the hell out of here unless you want to take the express route down," she smiled tightly.

Klaus looked at her. "You don't mean that."

Caroline stared back. "Does it look like I'm joking?" she retorted coolly.

"No, not really," he murmured, running his ran over his face. "Caroline-"

"Just go."

"Wait, you need to listen-"

"No you need to listen," Caroline snapped. "Maybe you're not used to people challenging you but I will not be quiet. I may have slept with you and maybe I didn't love you and okay, maybe that made me weak. But I was not the only one in that, Klaus, and you know it. You crossed me and I don't take well to being crossed. You caught me off guard and I'll be damned if I let it happen again. I will not be weak, Klaus, I was that shallow, boy crazy girl years ago-not anymore. I'm not going to wreck what I have here over you! You will not be the be all and end all, so get the fuck over yourself."

Klaus was stunned into silence. "I…I was just going to say to you don't forget who you really are. Don't let…what happened," he said carefully, "harden you. You're still full of light, Caroline. You just need to find it again." He reached out and stroked her cheek. "I called off the deal," he informed her before disappearing into the night.

"Yeah, well, I don't care!" she called after him, knowing she may not see him, but he was somewhere. Then she noticed the sheet covered painting and the Faberge egg sitting on the fire escape outside her window.

"Stupid thief," she muttered, slamming the window shut.

Klaus smirked in the distance.

X.x.X

"Okay, so the seed has already been planted," Katherine relayed to the team as they sat together. "Tyler's told Hayley that people have been showing interest in her family, so now she'll be suspicious."

"We need an excuse, an in," Elijah said thoughtfully.

There was silence for a second until Rebekah snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" she crowed triumphantly. "Someone filming a documentary. It'll get us into their house without suspicion."

Caroline nodded slowly. "That could work."

"It would need to be just one person, I'm afraid we've inquired too much and you've drawn too much attention," Elijah reminded them.

"Easy done, we send in the 'director' to get a scope to see if they're worth putting in the documentary and then the Marshall's never hear from them again," Stefan explained.

"We need someone…..pompous. Someone full of shit and themselves, who can hold their own and act so ridiculous they don't suspect a thing…." Caroline rattled off, slowing as they all turned to look at one member of their group.

"What?" Kol asked, his voice muffled through a bowl full of noodles.

"No." Bonnie stated flatly.

"Bonnie-" Caroline began, but she shook her head.

"No, Caroline. It would be suicide sending him in there."

"Bonnie we don't have a choice, he's the only one of us that no one will recognise."

"Me, they won't recognise me!" Bonnie protested. "Send me instead."

"I can handle it, Bonnie!" Kol cried indignantly.

"He has to, Bonnie," Katherine reminded her. "Don't take it personally but you just don't have the….jazz." Bonnie glowers at her and if looks could kill, Katherine is pretty sure both she and Caroline would be dead.

"Your boyfriend will be fine, Bonnie, no need to be such a witch about it," Damon muttered.

"He isn't my boyfriend," she responded automatically. Kol sighed.

"Don't I know it," he mumbled before setting down his bowl. "Fine, I'll do it."

"No!" Bonnie yelled as Caroline clapped.

"Goodie! Don't worry Kol, you'll get out of this fine, it'll be easy," she reassured him.

"It better be if Kol is going to do it," Rebekah quipped and he threw a cushion at her.

X.x.X

"Hallo, darling, darling!" Kol dramatically greeted the stunned brunette who had opened the door, bowing deeply and kissing her hand. "Thank you so much for having me," he gushed as he straightened, "but when a little birdie told me about your family history I just had to come investigate for myself, I had to!" he laughed and she gave him an awkward smile.

"Um, please, come in," Hayley said, standing out of the way as Kol barrelled through the hallway.

"So if I'm just here to scope out your life, learn some facts, and see if- well frankly if you are worth interviewing and showing on camera," he confessed. "If only you had something interesting to say, your pretty face would look just beautiful on camera," he confided in her and she smirked.

"What can I say, I was born to be a star," she said dryly as she swaggered through the house, pointing at different artefacts and objects, regaling the stories behind them. "I'm afraid my parents aren't home yet, they were on a business trip when you called," she said apologetically.

Kol waved her off. "No matter. I'll be able to gleam whatever information my team need from you, I'm sure."

Hayley nodded. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again?"

Bonnie hissed something in his ear and he answered smoothly, "Nathaniel Buzolic,"

Hayley raised her eyebrows. "That's a mouthful."

Kol shrugged. "Just call me Nate. It's original anyway."

Hayley shrugged one shoulder in response. "I guess. I don't know how helpful I'll be, I'm just house sitting really. But I'll tell you what I know." As she told him tales and stories and he investigated around the house, Caroline's voice suddenly crackled into his ear.

"There."

He pauses mid spin. "Yes, there. Right there!" Caroline reaffirmed. "Right infront of you, there's a picture that looks worn in one corner like it's been lifted many times. That's it, I'm telling you." Kol inspects it from a distance, looking at it with the same interest as he looked at the others with. "What about this one?" he asked, pointing at it.

"That? I really don't know much about it, it's just an old family heirloom. That picture has been in the family for years. It's nothing special really, that I know of."

"Hmm." Kol paused before turning to her. "My dear, this is going to sound like an odd request. But to get a feel for the material, I like to be left alone in the setting to try and immerse myself in the history," he pumped his arm, shaking it dramatically, "to see if there is enough of a story to put in my documentary." He and Hayley stared at each other for a few moments until she realises what he's saying.

"Oh right, of course. That's fine, I'll make some coffee for us then?" she offered politely, and he shushed her.

"It has begun," he whispered, and leaned his ear towards a random painting to his left. Hayley's eyes widened and she mouthed 'okay' before backing slowly out of the room, shutting the door as she went. When Kol was sure he heard her footsteps disappear, he straightened and strode over to the painting Caroline had pointed out. "I better get out soon, this wig itches like hell," he muttered about the offending sandy blonde tousled wig. He heard Bonnie let out a short laugh in his ear.

He got to work, snapping open the briefcase he had with him and tugging on gloves and he turned back to the landscape painting with a scalpel and a Stanley knife in his hand. "Ready," he breathed, and carefully leaned forward and started slicing at the edges while they all waited in the hotel room with baited breathe, leaning over Bonnie to get a glimpse at the screen.

"Oh my God," Kol breathed, and Caroline found herself unable to look.

"Is it there?" she asked in a small voice, when Stefan started laughing.

"Bloody hell," Kol said, dazed as he readjusted the tiny camera on his lapel so his teammates could look at it properly.

"It's there," Katherine stated, awestruck.

"The Anghiari," Elijah whispered reverently. Katherine found herself smiling, though she felt sad. She met Damon's eyes-he always knew what she was thinking. He nodded with a small smile of his own, and she knows she's not the only one who thinks Elena would have loved to have seen this.

"Caroline it's there," Stefan hugged his sister, who all but collapsed onto him in relief.

"We can get my mom back," she mumbled dumbly, feeling her face break into a smile. The team all grinned at each other, and Damon shook his head. "I can't believe we actually did it."

"Got it," Kol whispered triumphantly, snapping shut the briefcase and fixing the painting back within its frame. "One of the most famous lost paintings in the world, hidden within another mediocre sea landscape," Bonnie said softly.

"It really is mediocre," Kol made a face and straightened, fixing his wig and making for the door. "Hayley, my dear-it is done. I'm exhausted, I could use that coffee."

Later Kol made his way down the stairway-less conspicuous, less cameras- when he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head, knocking him to the floor. The briefcase flung from his hand to the floor. "Well, well, well, what do we have here," came a vaguely familiar voice he recognised as one of the men who worked for Marcel. "A Mikaelson. We've always had trouble with those."

"Kol?" Bonnie noticed something was wrong when she heard a muffled thump and quickly tapped at her keys, accessing the video camera again. Her blood ran cold as she realised the angled was wrong, all skewed and awkward, with heavily booted feet in her view. "Kol!"

The last thing she saw were hands reaching down, and the camera cut. She managed a last shrill "Kol!" before there was a screech in her ear as there was a sickening crunch of a comm being destroyed.

For once, Kol was somewhere she couldn't reach him.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for being so patient and waiting til later in the day! The reception this story has got has been unreal! So many of you have favourite and followed Company of Thieves, I'd love to hear more reviews from you guys! I'm dying to know what you think! Anyway, enough talking, I'm sure you want to know what happened to Kol! Have a great day and I hope you enjoy!**

**SONG RECS: 'Iron Sky' by Paolo Nutini, and 'Don't Run Our Hearts Around' by Black Mountain. **

"They have him!" Bonnie burst into Rebekah's room, and the blonde sat up ramrod straight. "When?" she demanded.

"A minute ago, I don't know how long he was following Kol for, he didn't realise."

"Who?"

Bonnie took in a shaky breath.

"Marcel."

"That's it, then," Caroline said flatly when they told her.

"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" Rebekah asked tightly. Caroline levelled her gaze at the blonde. "They have The Anghiari. It's over. He knew something was up when we started sniffing around Hayley."

"Nevermind the Anghiari, he has my brother! We aren't leaving him," Rebekah argued.

"You don't understand," Caroline said forcefully, silencing the English woman and the hacker. "If we turn up at Marcel's all guns blazing we make an enemy out of him. We don't have the Anghiari, and Moroney will have a price on all of our heads, whether we return back to Chicago or not. If we go against Marcel we're making another powerful enemy."

"We aren't leaving him," Bonnie shook with anger. "You out of all people know we aren't leaving him."

Caroline looked at her friends helplessly. "We might not have a choice."

X.x.X

Another punch to the face.

Blood gushing down.

"Who are you working with?" one of Marcel's men roared in his face.

Kol spat on him.

The henchman hit him with a baton, this time to the ribs.

So on and so on.

"Mate," Kol grinned through bloody teeth, "I'm not telling you anything."

"Oh, you'll talk, _mate," _they sneered back. "We know all about your family, but Marcel wants to know about who you were with."

"I've been with a lot of people, it's hard to remember them all," Kol replied innocently.

"Not like these people," they growled, and Kol shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm an advocate for the weird and the wonderful."

Another beating, and suddenly breathing felt awfully hard. Kol didn't remember it ever being that hard to breathe before. It was never as painful either.

"You ready to talk yet?" Baldy-when being tortured you have a lot of time on your hands, so Kol gave him a name- asked. Kol shrugged as much as he could, being tied up with his hands attached to a pipe above his head. "I'm not feeling particularly chatty, no."

X.x.X

Bonnie stormed through her room like a whirlwind, grapping things she'd need and thrusting them into a bag. "Where are you going?" Rebekah asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Where do you think?" Bonnie didn't look up from her task.

The blonde surged forward. "I'm going with you."

"No you're not."

"Yes I bloody well am!" Rebekah cried indignantly. "He's my twin, I'm going to help him."

"Yes, you are. I need you as back and on comms," Bonnie instructed and talked on when she saw Rebekah was about to interrupt her, "besides, Marcel seems to want you dead. Seems a good idea to keep you out of range." She paused on her way out the door to put her hand to the taller girl's arm. "I'll bring him back," she said confidently.

"You don't even know where he is, Bonnie."

Bonnie didn't look back at her as she went. "Yes I do."

X.x.X

"Well if you won't tell us who you're working with, we're going to have to look in the case," Baldy informed him, and Kol grimaced. "You really shouldn't do that," he replied.

Baldy opened it.

"Mother of God, wait til Marcel hears about this….so this is why you've been looking into the Marshall's?" Kol remained silent. Baldy whistled. "Impressive painting….who did it?"

Kol rolled his head to look at him. "Seriously?"

X.x.X

Bonnie arrived on the thirteenth floor after confirmation from Rebekah that this was indeed the floor the tracking device in the briefcase went off on. "Whoever it is knows about the Anghiari, Bobcat." Bonnie made a face.

"I know," she insisted, but could feel the dread pooling in her stomach. "How far?"

"Right here," came a voice that wasn't Rebekah's and Bonnie felt a prick in her neck before her world went black.

X.x.X

"Bo-Bobcat?" Kol wheezed at the girl who was rousing, being placed in the same position he was in.

"We found a friend of yours, Mikaelson. Seems to be one of the ones Marcel wants to know about," Baldy nudged Bonnie with his foot, and she whimpered. He grinned, obviously happy with himself. "Now, I'm going to have some fun with both of you, but first I'd better go call my boss and let him know that today is not the same old boring day at work." With one last kick at Kol, who groaned, he left. "Bon?" he whispered, "Bonnie wake up." Bonnie's eyes snapped open and Kol jumped. "Jesus," he muttered and she cracked her neck. "Shouldn't you still be asleep?" he asked dryly, and she shook her head.

"I developed a way to become resistant to it years ago."

"Right, so you're awake. But what exactly are we going to do about being tied up and held captive?" he asked. Bonnie busied herself and had not yet looked at him. Instead she craned her neck and pulled at something from the arm of her sweater that looked like the head of a loose thread, when it was really a delicate wire pin, which she worked at her conjoined hands with. Pulling her hands loose, she turned to Kol. When Bonnie saw him, her breath caught in her throat. "Kol…" she said in a strangled voice. He gave her a weak smile.

"Darling, whatever it looks like, believe me it hurts a lot more."

That jolted her into action, and she quickly freed him from his confines. She hoisted him up, supporting his weight and glanced around the room, spotting the open briefcase with the Anghiari still sitting in it. She snapped it shut and grabbed it too, and slowly lead them the way that Rebekah instructed her would lead to the front door when she heard a click. The pair turned around to see Baldy with his gun trained on Kol. "I'm going to make this really simple. The boss just wants the picture. You both can go if you hand over The Anghiari, alright girlie?" Bonnie tightened her grip on Kol's waist and the briefcase. After a few seconds of no movement, Baldy sighed. "It's either you give me the briefcase or I shoot him." him.

Bonnie hesitated when Rebekah's voice soothed her over the comms. "Do it, Bonnie. Family comes first."

"She's right, Bon," Caroline piped in quietly, surprising them all. "I've been trying to boss you and control you, because I love you. But that isn't love. Do what you need to do, Bonnie. I'm still your friend." Bonnie closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she made her choice.

X.x.X

"Ow!" Kol whined as Bonnie sponged the cuts on his torso.

"Stop being such a baby," she snapped.

"What are we going to do?" asked Katherine in a low voice. Caroline sighed.

"Nothing, Katherine. It's over. We lost it. We had it and we lost it."

Kol coughed from across the room. "I don't know about that."

"Kol, Marcel has the Anghiari. The Marshall's have the copy, there's no way we can get either back."

"Ah, yes, that's right. Wouldn't it be great if, say, there had been two copies," he replied casually, and Caroline sat up straighter and Bonnie's hands stilled, "and the Marshall's had one, Marcel had another, and the original was hidden behind the fire extinguisher on the fifteenth floor….wouldn't that be perfect?"

"Are you serious?" Katherine asked.

Kol nodded. "A little birdy told me we had another forge laying around and I figured we might need to put it to good use, so I brought it that day."

"Oh my God, Kol!" Caroline squealed. "I could kiss you!"

"Please don't," Kol and Bonnie said in unison. The front door opened and Rebekah sauntered into the room, an envelope in her hands and a wide grin on her face. "Look what I found," she sing songed and they ripped the envelope open, and everyone gathered around where Kol lay on the sofa to see it.

"The Anghiari."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry this is so late, school has been mental with A Levels, uni applications and visits, and on top of that my electric was out while they were doing work and there was a goat in my garden! Fabulous. Okay so this story is really near the end now, the good news for you guys is this chapter and the next one will be put up closer! Y'all might kill me for this chapter. Yikes. It's all very dramatic!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy, leave a review and have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: (This is going to be all the angry songs I know, basically. :p) 'Beast' by Nico Vega, 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes, 'Sacrilege' by The Yeah Yeah Yeah's, 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons, 'Beat The Devil's Tattoo' by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and 'Dream' by Priscilla Ann. **

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite gang of thieves," Moroney greeted them, arms wide open to show the vast expanses of the warehouse they were in, "welcome."

"Moroney," Caroline acknowledged as her team approached Moroney, stopping at an appropriate distance so his henchmen perched around the room didn't get trigger happy too soon.

"Well, Caroline, tell me-did you manage to retrieve what was stolen from me?" he asked cheerfully, and she fought the urge to punch him in the face.

"Yes, we got it."

He made a gesture with his hands and Caroline nodded to Damon, who opened the case The Anghiari was in. "Beautiul," he breathed. Caroline coughed and Damon closed the case again.

"A deal is a deal, Vincent. Hand over my mother." Caroline stated coolly.

"I'm a man of my word, Miss Forbes," he reassured her and made a signal to a henchman behind him, who went behind a pile of crates and dragged out Elizabeth Forbes, who looked scared and angry, but unharmed. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw Caroline. "Mom," Caroline breathed, and had to resist from rushing forward to her.

"Ah ah ah," Moroney tutted. "A deal is a deal. You see your mother is here and fine. Now give me my painting." Damon exchanged a look with Caroline, who bulged her eyes and nodded sharply at Moroney. He sighed mournfully and then handed the case over to Moroney, whose eyes were gleaming in delight. "My beautiful Anghiari, you are home at last," he breathed, and Rebekah snorted.

"Is something funny?" Moroney asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. She placed a hand on her hip in response.

"Yes, actually. You. You had us do your dirty work, something you could have easily done yourself or paid your henchmen to do. But you get off on controlling people. It's pathetic. You're pathetic." A female with Moroney reached out with lightning speed and slapped Rebekah across the face, and was going in for a second when a hand appeared from nowhere and grabbed the woman's wrist.

"Not my sister, you bitch," roared a familiar voice before a punch was landed to the woman's face.

"Nik?" Caroline yelped, taken so much by surprise that she took a kick to the side. She glanced from him to her mother, who was standing against a wall, trembling. The reunion could wait, and without another second's hesitation, she made a beeline for Liz, Damon covering her as much as possible. "Kol, get ready!" she yelled in her ear piece at her team mate who was in the van. After colliding with another goon, Caroline finally reached the sheriff, and grabbed her by the arm. "Caroline, what the hell is going on?" her mother started to screech-and Elizabeth Forbes was not the screeching type-before her daughter shushed her. "Mom, I'll explain everything. But I need to get you out of here, okay?" with confirmation in her ear, she jerked Liz away from the wall, and took shelter behind a stock pile as part of the wall where they had been exploded.

"Mom, you see that van? Kol is going to take you to the landing strip nearby, okay? He'll take you to Rick, you remember Rick? My old history teacher? You need to get out of town for a while until this blows over. Now go," she nudged her mother forward.

"Come with me," Liz begged. "Caroline please, these-people-can handle this. Come with me."

Kol came to take Liz' arm, and Caroline smiled quickly at her mother. "I have to stay, Mom. This is my family and my fight and I'll be damned if I lose either. Take her," the last part was directed at Kol, who disappeared alongside her mom.

Caroline spun round, just in time to see someone lunge at her, tackling her to the ground. Her head whacked back against the concrete ground, and she saw stars. Caroline raised a hand to smack their heads together in the hopes of knocking her captor out, but he just grunted.

"Enzo! Just deal with the bitch!" Moroney yelled at Enzo.

Enzo's hands closed around her throat, and Caroline struggled to get grasp anywhere, trying to knee him, claw at him, anything. Suddenly he was ripped off her, and Caroline gasped, staggering ungracefully to her feet. "A little help here, love," Klaus grunted, and Caroline glared at him before snapping her leg up in a roundhouse kicked, the heel of her boot connecting with Enzo's face and Klaus landed a punch to his ribs as he doubled over, throwing him away to land in a heap.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Caroline hissed at Klaus as she narrowly avoided a punch.

"Helping you," Klaus glared at the blonde. Caroline snorted.

"Yeah right. You've probably come to steal the Anghiari right from under my nose!"

"No I won't!"

"Well guess what, I don't believe you! I overheard your conversation in the alley, remember?" Caroline reminded him bitterly.

"Well if you'd listened to all of it, you'd know I'd called it off, and threatened Slater that if he tried to lift a finger in opposition to what you are doing I'd kill him." Klaus said simply.

Caroline paused long enough she took a kick to the knee, whimpering. "Why?"

"Because I-"

They were distracted as the fight made its way back to them.

Caroline slid to the floor as gun shots rang out, a bullet whistling past to wear her head had been. Stefan hauled her up, swinging her weight by the arms to knock into some of Moroney's men. "Be careful," he warned her before joining the fray again. Caroline narrowly dodged a bullet, elbowing a nose and hearing a sickening crunch. "You what, Nik?!" she demanded.

Nik had someone in a headlock and was kneeing them repeatedly in the stomach. "Now isn't a good time, love," he grunted.

"We might die, so it seems like a perfectly good time to me!" she yelled before taking a running jump onto someone's neck and strangling them with cord. She glanced over at her team. Bonnie and Rebekah were tag teaming the same girl who had slapped Rebekah earlier, Elijah, Damon and Stefan were taking care of a lot of them and Katherine was slinking her way to Moroney.

"I-"

"Anytime today, Nik," she gritted out, bucking on the man's shoulders as he tried desperately to get her off.

"I love you, alright?" he roared at her, smashing two heads together. Caroline grinned triumphantly.

"There, was that so-" she was cut off by her own guttural scream as the man struggling beneath her plunged a jagged edged knife into her thigh and twisted it. Caroline slackened her grip and was tossed off, landing on that leg and crying out in pain. Gunshots rang out, and the same man was struck down by a bullet. Looking for the source, Caroline found Bonnie, who was expertly reloading and aiming for another target. Caroline crawled to a box and hauled herself up, here bad leg dragging. "Klaus?" she called out, having lost him in the fray. Many of Moroney's men were down, and her eyes soon spotted him, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. "K-Klaus? Nik?" She hobbled over to him. Caroline's leg gave out half way, so she crawled towards him. "Nik! Elijah!" she cried shrilly, like a little girl crying for her parents. Elijah was the eldest Mikaelson sibling, surely he'd know what to do.

Elijah rushed towards her, before listening to her "Go to Nik, please go to Nik." He examined his younger brother, conscious of his lack of moaning. Nik was the sort that if he was in pain, you'd know about it. He always was. "He's been hit at the shoulder," Elijah states, and both he and Caroline know he could bleed out. "Get him out of here," she orders. Elijah winces.

"I can't get you both out."

"Take him and go. Now!" she barks, staggering to her feet. Caroline surged towards the remaining fighters-there are about two or three- before Damon swoops on her. "Blondie, we're leaving," he said firmly, putting her arm over his shoulder and taking her weight. "But-" she starts to protest.

"The girls have this. We're starting to extract now. I need to get you out of here."

"I am not leaving without them!" Caroline said in a steely voice.

"We aren't, they're right behind us, now get moving!" he half drags her along beside him, gunshots flaring behind them as their remaining team mates expertly take out Moroney's men. Caroline glanced back in time to see Katherine standing behind Moroney, holding a gun to his head with a shaking hand. "This isn't the end," he told her cheerfully as she circled to stand in front of him. She'd decided long ago she wanted her face-and by defect, Elena's-to be the last he saw. "You're not all getting out of here."

Katherine clicked the gun. "This is for my sister."

A lone shot fired and Moroney dropped heavily to the ground, the sound echoing. Katherine took a deep breath-deal with the psychological repercussions later- before striding after her team mates, taking out another goon that Bonnie was struggling with. Everyone was down, and the Salvatore/Mikaelson team were leaving when they heard a click. "Look out, Damon!" Rebekah screamed and a shot fired from Enzo-who wasn't as dead as they thought he was. Damon braced himself for impact, but was instead knocked to the side, Caroline being flung away from him like a ragdoll.

Damon whipped his head around to his saviour- his brother- staggering, his hands held up like he was surrendering, his chest pushed forward. A human shield.

"Stefan?!" Damon yelled, his blue eyes widening as Stefan keeled forward to his knees, spluttering. Rebekah was there in an instant as she was the closest, resting his head in her lap. "Stefan? Stefan you stay awake, do you hear me?" she reprimanded as Bonnie checked the bullet wound. Stefan smiled as she shook her head to the others. Damon scrambled over, Caroline in hot pursuit, gritting her teeth. "It's okay," Stefan said. "I know." Bonnie and Rebekah exchanged looks.

"Know what? You'll be fine, brother," Damon reassured him in a choked voice. "You have to be fine."

"I'm not," Stefan replied. "I know I'm not. I'm telling you-it's okay."

Caroline shook her head as tears started tripping down Damon's face. "It's not okay, you can't leave us. We're in this together, Stef," she half laughed, half sobbed.

"Will you two stop for a minute?" Stefan wheezed, blood starting to dribble out of his mouth. "I swore to myself and on dad's grave I would protect you two, no matter what. You have the chance for happiness. Take it. Look after each other, alright? I need you all to look after each other. All of you," he said to Rebekah, who nodded.

"Always and forever," she promised him, squeezing his hand.

"We have to go," Elijah said from the door hole in the wall that had been created by Kol earlier. He was back and standing with his brother. "This place is going to blow."

"Hey Klaus," Stefan called, and said Mikaelson lifted his head. "You're it." He smiled faintly.

"I know, mate. I'll look after her."

"I'm sorry I won't be at your wedding, Kat. And Bonnie-just admit it already, okay?" The girls nodded.

"You don't suit red anyway, Salvatore," Katherine sniffed, bending down to leave a kiss on his forehead.

"Now go," Stefan said forcefully. "I can make sure this all looks like what it needs to. Go."

"I'm sorry, brother. I'm sorry I let you down." Damon's voice cracked, and Stefan smiled.

"You were the best big brother, Damon. I have never been gladder I had anything than I had this family. Now go. Please."

Conceding Stefan's Salvatore's last wish, they left. Stefan smiled, closed his eyes, and breathed his last breath.

The band of thieves were down one more.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hey guys! So sorry this is once again late, but I ended up spending all last night in A&E then crawled in to bed super late and then heading to the city for a book signing today! Crazy times. So if chapters are either up a day early or late something has come up, fear not there will be a chapter! Anyway the reaction to the last chapter and poor Stefan. :'( I broke my own heart. I hope you guys enjoy, I THINK-off the top of my head- this is the penultimate chapter excluding the Epilogue. So by this time next week Company of Thieves will be over! D: Thank you all for sticking with this story! I'm pretty sure this will be my last The Vampire Diaries fanfiction, unless I take up watching it again or just are feeling in the mood for some Klaroline. Who knows, I may miss the characters and write some drabbles of them from the COT universe! **

**Hope you enjoy and have a great day!**

**SONG RECS: 'High Hopes' by Kodaline, 'I Know' by Tom Odell, and 'Landfill' by Daughter. **

No. No.

He can't be gone.

Caroline stared blankly at the van side in front of her. Damon is beside her, swaying heavily from side to side like he's made of air. The one thing keeping him here is gone, and he has nothing. Rebekah and Kol are murmuring between themselves and are flitting around checking on people's wounds the minute they get back to the Salvatore apartment. No one else talks. Caroline doesn't even wince when Elijah nimbly stitches up her leg-he's not a doctor, but he's been in the business since he was a boy, and being the oldest he soon learnt from their mother so he could clean up his younger siblings wounds.

Klaus had been dealt with first, being the most badly hurt. The bullet had nearly got lodged, but it still went clean through, narrowly avoiding nicking an artery. They told him he was lucky. Klaus didn't think so. Bonnie got off with a few scrapes and a dislocated wrist, Rebekah bruised ribs, Katherine a small bald patch courtesy of being dragged by the hair. She didn't freak though, to everyone's surprise. The loss of Elena and Stefan had matured her, and whilst she still wanted to marry Elijah, and didn't plan on changing the date, she publicly cancelled it. However, they still planned on going to the church then back to the Salvatore apartment with the additions of Liz Forbes, Jeremy, and his friend, Matt. Matt owned a bar that Rebekah now frequented, and the pair got on like a house on fire, Rebekah surprising everyone-including herself- by occasionally helping out behind the bar, and would spray beer at Matt near the end of the night.

Bonnie suffered for days, not physically, but emotionally. She'd just lost two of her closest friends, and felt she had to be strong for the others. They had lost more than her, hadn't they? It wasn't until Kol had sat her down on his lap-she wanted to joke that she wasn't his laptop, but didn't have the heart- and asked her how she was handling it that she realised just how much she had lost, and how she had the right to be as upset as the others.

She cried in his arms for the brother and sister she lost, the innocence long forgotten, and the choice she would have to make. Stefan's final words to her-his final brotherly advice rang clear as day through her head. With his blessing, she took a deep breath and lifted her head to look at Kol. "Ask me out again," Bonnie demanded, and Kol cocked his head at her.

"Darling, you're in a state, I don't think it's a-"

"I have never been surer of anything in my life. Ask me."

Kol took a deep breath. "Willyougooutwithme?" he blurted out, sounding more nervous than Bonnie had ever heard him. Bonnie looked him straight in the eyes as she said yes.

Elijah and Kol had gotten out the least harmed of them all, Kol having not been there fighting-his wounds from his run in with Baldy healed quickly, no matter how much they had hurt at the time-and Elijah with a ripped suit.

Damon was a wreck, as was to be expected. He was drinking and trying to forget, and he wasn't moving on. All he could think was that he had no one.

"Hey," came a familiar but unexpected voice.

No reply.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk to me…or any of us. But we're all here, okay?"

Damon rolled his eyes at her. Katherine huffed. "We lost him too-"

"He's my brother, Katherine. You didn't lose him like I did! For once in your life don't be selfish and accept it's not about you!" his voice wasn't raised, but the tone hurt and deadly whisper was worse than him screaming at her. Damon shoved her, and Katherine slapped him.

"No, he's not my brother. But you know who was my sister? Elena."

That silenced him, and he sat down, all strength leaving him. "Kather-" he began weakly, and she held up a hand to stop him. "No. I'm talking." She swallowed. "When Elena died, it was like someone tore a hole through my chest. She was my twin, my other-better-half. And then she was gone, and I wasn't there. You were there, Damon. You said your goodbye. Stefan was at peace with what was happening. I know it's hard to accept but he's okay, Damon."

"He was my baby brother," he whispered, and Katherine sunk down on the couch beside him, pulling him to her, rocking them back and forth. "He still is. He always will be. We'll keep them, Damon. They're here every damn day."

"You mean it?" he mumbled.

Tears filled Katherine's eyes. "Yeah. I see Elena in the trees, a certain shade of red, in that painting-" her voice broke off. "I see her every time I look in the mirror, Damon. Elena and Stefan gave us a gift. They gave us life and showed us how much people could impact us in such a short space of time."

"Will it stop hurting?" Damon asked, his voice cracking. Katherine shrugged.

"It doesn't hurt as much now, I guess. You'll need time. A lot of it. I'm still not there yet, I'll let you know when I get there." She offered him a weak smile.

"You're alright, Gilbert." Damon concedes, squeezing her hand.

"You aren't too bad yourself, Salvatore," and she squeezes right back.

Damon storms up to Caroline later, and she flinches, expecting him to lash out at her for dragging Stefan along on the suicide mission. He stops not a foot in front of her, and holds on to her forearms. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I'm so sorry, Blondie, I've been a terrible brother. I just didn't know how to talk to you, but I'm here now. I'm back. I'm sorry."

Caroline nods, and silently folds into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too."

"I'm here now. I'm cleaning up my act, going to be a better person."

"You don't need to do that, Damon, you are a good person." Caroline hugs him tighter, and she feels more anchored than she has in a long time.

"Love you, Blondie."

"Love you, Dick."

X.x.X

"What are you doing here?" she asks him as she's getting out her things her bed. He's sitting on a wicker chair in the corner of her bedroom. He doesn't answer her, and Caroline turns her back and starts to strip off. She can feel his gaze on her back, his eyes taking in every inch shown to him. She changes into the shorts and vest top she has sitting waiting on her dresser before turning to face him.

"Nik. What are you doing here?" she asks again, noticing the jacket this time.

"I've come to say goodbye," he says after a pregnant pause.

"The wedding is tomorrow, Nik." Caroline tells him feebly.

"I know. I'm not going. I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry?" she yelled. "You haven't spoken to me in nearly a month. A month! We've been living in the same house but we might as well be strangers. You told me you loved me, and then-"

"And then Stefan died," he said coolly. She shook her head at him.

"I cannot believe you."

"Believe it. I've come to say goodbye, that's it."

"That's all you have to say to me?" asked Caroline, wounded.

Klaus ran a hand through his hair. "What else can I say, Caroline?" he explodes. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess, I'm sorry I bedded you and lied to you, I'm sorry your brother is dead, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, I'm just sorry!" Caroline scoffs and stomps over to him.

"So that's what this is about? You're staying away from me because of Stefan?"

"That's not it-"

"Please, enlighten me, Klaus," she snaps sarcastically.

"I'm staying away because if I hadn't gotten so distracted by you I wouldn't have gotten hit, and Stefan would still be here," Klaus admits. Caroline paces the room, her hair practically crackling.

"That's it? What about the fact that if I hadn't have pushed you to tell me how to felt, we might have been out of there earlier? He'd-he'd still be here," her voice trembled, then hardened. "But he isn't. Nothing can change that, Nik, not wishful thinking or begging or screaming. He's gone." She stalked towards him, and Klaus almost wants to flinch. "He-before he died, he called something to you."

"Yes," he answered cautiously.

"He-Stefan said 'you're it.'" Caroline glanced up at him. "What does that mean?" she asked softly. Klaus trailed a finger up her arm. "Stefan and I stayed in contact after I-went away," he said, embarrassed. "I kept telling him, 'you're it. You have to take care of her.' He had to take care of you when I wasn't there. Now-now I'm it," he finished with a lump in his throat.

"Then take care of me," she whispered. "Stay here. Stay with us. Don't leave me."

"I can't," he ground out. "I'm sorry. It's…better, this way." Klaus started for the door when she called out to him.

"I've lost…everything. I lost my dad. I lost my life. My mentor. My friend. My brother. I nearly lost my mom." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Don't make me lose you too."

Klaus didn't look back to her. His resolve would break if he did. He would stay. He would wrap her in his arms and stay by her side for the rest of her life. But he couldn't, not with all the damage he'd done. His angel was better off without him. "I'm sorry," he repeated finally, and he walked out of the room, leaving Caroline staring at the spot where he had been.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: GUYSSSSSS it's the final chapter imam cry. D: It's just this and then the Epilogue! Thank you all for sticking with me throughout this story, the support and love for it has been insane! This chapter is going up early because I don't think I'll get putting it up tomorrow. But thank you all so much and I hope you stick with me for one more chapter after this!**

**So, finally, after over a year of writing this story, here it is-**

**The final chapter of Company of Thieves.**

**Enjoy!**

**SONG RECS: 'Stolen Dance' by Milky Chance, 'An Island' by Fatherson, and 'Lost Stars' by Adam Levine. **

They're getting ready to take the trip down the aisle, and after fanning out Katherine's train, they get into position. Caroline stands and waits behind Bonnie, who is fussing with Kol's bowtie. Kol then moves to stand beside Caroline, his partner, when his spot is already taken by his panting older brother. "Klaus?" she furrows her brow. "What are you doing here?!"

"Mikaelson, if you ruin my wedding I swear to God I will fucking kill you!" Katherine hissed from the back of the procession.

"I changed my mind," he wheezed. "I owe it to Stefan to look out for you and to be here for you, and I'm sorry, again, and I swear I wo-"

"I don't have time for this!" Caroline cried at him. "Kol." Kol dutifully stepped away from his girlfriend and glared at Klaus, intercepting and offering his arm to Caroline. She took it and sighed, looking straight ahead. "It should have been him," she said softly. "It should have been Stefan." Kol took her spare hand in his own. "I know," he answered earnestly. She gave him a small smile and the procession started.

X.x.X

"Alright, alright, now that my speech is over, some of my siblings apparently want to speak," Elijah said incredulously to the small crowd. "So I'll pass this on to my youngest sibling-Kol."

Kol stood up as Elijah sat down. "I would like to start by saying I'm the youngest by two minutes, and only because that one over there claimed I was an air hog and she needed to be delivered first." Rebekah rolled her eyes at that. "Now. As you know, we, em, are quite a big…family. Things tend to go fast, everything at once, and there is always drama. Now imagine my horror and surprise when we learnt that we'd be gaining not one, but seven new family members." He paused. "Sadly, two of these family members weren't able to be with us today. I never had the pleasure of meeting Elena, but from what I gathered- she was a Salvatore/ Gilbert through and through, and I think that's the highest compliment that can be paid." Katherine gave him a watery smiled and Elijah wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Another one of our family members we did meet. He was-kind. Loyal, to a fault. He was exactly the sort of man you wanted on your team, and I am honoured to have met him. They may not be here with us today, but they're up there, looking over you, Katherine. And I'm sure I can speak for them when I say I wish you a long, happy, and exciting marriage." Elijah smiled proudly at his younger brother, who had grown up so much in such a short space of time.

"The clan is huge, as you can imagine," Rebekah butted in, continuing Kol's thought as only a twin can do. "Loud and boisterous personalities. That trip we took together certainly was an interesting plane ride," she laughed, and her comrades laughed with her. "I know you have lost two of your family," she continued on seriously. "But I hope you don't mind-you've gained four more brothers and sisters. And we are a team. We'll guide you through your dark days. Bicker-a lot. Tell you when you are wrong- which is also a lot. Be a shoulder on which you cry. We'll be your family," she smiled tentatively, "if you'll take us." Rebekah sat back down between Matt and Kol, sniffing. Katherine smiled over at her, offering an awkward little wave. They weren't going to be best friends any time soon, not even close, but they were siblings now, and siblings argue. But they at least try to get along.

"Well, if you would all like to-" Katherine began before Klaus shot up off his seat.

"Listen to me," he supplied for her. Katherine glared at him before inclining her head. "The first time I met the lovely Katherine, we didn't exactly get on. In fact, you could say we wanted to kill each other."

"You could say that," Katherine murmured.

"And as far as I know-Elijah and Kat had similar feelings towards each other." It was true. Elijah was loyal to his family, and Katherine could have destroyed that. Elijah almost felt something for her, and he hated her for it. That was her game, her job-tearing out people's hearts, and he wasn't about to sacrifice it all for her. Until he did. "So imagine my surprise and delight when I learnt who my sister in law was going to be. And then we met her family." He raised his eyebrows and that warranted a giggle from some of the group. "And they were-and still are- the maddest bunch of people I've met, and their ringmaster was worse than the rest. She's infuriating, crazy, and she's-she made me see how Elijah and Katherine could love each other." Klaus looked at Caroline, who had been staring with interest into her wine glass.

"Caroline," he spoke across the table to her, and she looked up with little to no emotion on her face. "You showed me what it was like to feel. You challenge me, push me, you make me want to be better. Mostly so I can be better than you," he admits, earning a smirk from her. He lifts his arms up helplessly when he said "I messed up. More than once. And I was so scared of losing you-of you hating me-that I pushed you away. I left. And it was the worst mistake I have ever made, both times. And I am so, so sorry." He makes his way towards her, stopping and pulling her up off her seat. "You forgave me once," he murmured softly, "And I beg you to forgive me again."

Caroline cleared her throat. "Why should I?" she challenged, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Because I love you. And I made a promise to your brother that I would look after you. I made a promise to myself as well. That wherever you go, I go. If you want to stay here or to France or wherever-I am right here, by your side. This means something, you and I," the words the opposite of what they used to say to each other, "and I'm willing to fight for it. But if-" he hesitates. "If you truly want me to go, I'll leave. I'll leave you alone, if that's what you truly want." He wouldn't be where she could see him, but he'd always be there, protecting her. Caroline bit her lip. "Can you forgive me, sweetheart?" he asked her, his eyes full of hope, but he was unsure. Caroline trembles uncharacteristically. "This is it, Nik," she warns. "No more chances. I won't be played the fool."

"I'm the only fool here, darling," he mumbles.

"I love you," she continues, stroking his face with her hand. "And I need you."

"Wherever you go, I go," he confirms. "I'm all yours."

Caroline grins and closes in on him. "Mine," she states, the word rolling easily off her tongue. And it was. It was as easy as breathing, being together. They were affected by circumstances, and they fought like cat and dog. But they were two sides of the same coin, and being together was as easy as breathing.

"You stole my heart, Caroline Forbes," Klaus tells her in between kisses, and the reactions of the crowd of people range from aww's to oh God's. Caroline smirks against his lips.

"And you stole my Faberge egg."

Everyone groaned.

"Will you please stop going on about it!" Bonnie cried.

"I gave it back!" Klaus remained her.

Katherine sighed. "At first I was ready to kill you, Mikaelson, but then it got kind of cute, and I forgive you for upstaging my wedding," she announced graciously, before pointing her fork at Caroline. "But I won't forgive her if she doesn't shut up about the fucking egg!"

"There's the Kat I know and love," Elijah smiles fondly.

"I thought brides weren't supposed to swear on their wedding day," Damon teases.

Rebekah snorts. "They're also supposed to be pure. I don't see that happening." Katherine laughs.

"It's a good thing I'm in a good mood or I'd have to hurt you," the bashful bride smiles tightly.

"Can we please eat already?!" Kol moaned, and Bonnie rubbed his shoulders.

"Nothing is better company than the company of thieves," Elijah declared.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Here we are, the epilogue of Company of Thieves. Sorry this is a little late, my school had some bad news today and I haven't really been in the form. I wish I could be more excited about this and tell you about upcoming projects-there are a few Teen Wolf ones- but I really can't. Maybe in a few days, but not now. I do hope you guys enjoy and have a better day than I have had. If you guys want, I may post a chapter of all the songs I listened to while writing this story. **

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to Anna. You fought hard for so long, and you don't have to fight anymore. It is okay to move on and be happy and free, and you leave behind your legacy and so many people that love you and miss you. You should have seen it, Anna, so many people turned up to school for you and went to the convent for you and cried for you. The stars will forever be shining bright now that you're one. We love you and we miss you, and you may be gone but you'll never be forgotten. Rest in peace, Anna. **

Caroline giggled.

Klaus growled.

Kol listen in uncomfortably.

Bang! They were against the door.

Bang! They were on the table.

Bang! The door swung open. The person who opened it wondered what THAT position was called. "Oh God- Sir, Miss, I'm going to have to ask you go back downstairs now. Upstairs is off limits," the security guard reminds the couple. Caroline hiccupped, and detached herself from Klaus, discreetly pulling down and smoothing out her dress. "I am so sorry," she stammered, looking embarrassed. Caroline stumbled over to the guard, bumping into him. He righted her, and she patted his absently on the shoulder. "It's Mr and Mrs Morgan, actually," she corrects him, before beckoning for Klaus to come with her. His arm snakes around her waist easily, his hand gripping her arse possessively. Caroline rolls her eyes to the guard, as if to say 'men.' "We were just leaving," Klaus grumbles, and the guard shakes his head and leaves quickly, having just gotten word of a disturbance downstairs.

The couple straighten and walk out of the office and walk in the opposite direction the guard went. "Did you get it?" Klaus asked, and she rolls her eyes.

"Seriously? I was discovered by Giuseppe through pickpocketing. Of course I got it," she flashed the I.D. card and strode ahead of him.

"I love you in that dress," Klaus studies her, his eyes travelling from the silky red material pooled at her feet, to the side slit showing a toned and glorious leg, to the low back, leaving her spine deliciously bare. She shoots him a coy smile over her shoulder. "I know."

"Are you guys nearly there?" Bonnie voice queries through the ear piece.

"Nearly," Klaus answers.

"Good, I want to take this rich bastard down," Katherine grumbles, putting in her two cent. Since she had already semi-retired due to the wedding, it turned out she needed to leave the ass kicking for another while, as they discovered she was pregnant. It was twins, what else would it be with both those families? She was itching for a fight, at home, watching them on the CCTV footage Kol was streaming to her. Most other nights she'd be with them, but tonight Kol and Bonnie had their hands full, so she was supplying her team mates at the party with names and info on the other guests.

Pricking her ears, Caroline could hear Damon and Rebekah yelling at each other-both through the comms and their voices travelling upwards. "They're really going at it," Klaus admired. "No wonder the security left so quickly."

He stepped forward and started picking the lock on a door they had to go through. "Yeah, good thing, I thought you were ready for another round," Caroline commented, watching the clock.

"Sixty seconds to entry," Kol called.

"What can I say, I'm a possessive man," he grunted.

"Take me, I'm yours!" she declared dramatically before pushing his shoulder as he stood. "You are such a caveman."

"I'm your caveman," he reminded her. She grinned happily. Klaus leaned in a kisses her roughly.

"I love it when you say we're married," he murmurs against her lips, and her purrs in appreciation. "It makes me think you should become Mrs Mikaelson," Klaus hums against the pale column of her throat, and her eyes shoot open. "Are you-" she asked him, and he gets down on one knee, in the middle of a job. "I met you on a job, I fell in love with you on a job, so I can't think of a better time, before you ask," he rushes out, popping open the small box in his hand. "So, the love and light of my life, my partner and equal, Caroline Forbes-will you marry me?"

"Twenty seconds, you better answer quickly," Bonnie warns, and Kol shushes her.

Caroline holds out her right hand and he silently slips the ring on her finger, looking up at her questioningly. She places her hands on either side of his face, and he rises. "Yes," she whispers before putting her lips on his.

"Congratulations and all, but thirteen seconds!" Kol says joyously.

Klaus breaks away from Caroline. "Everyone in position?" he calls, and getting a yes from all. He grins at Caroline, who has that familiar glint in her eye. "And we're on," she states, swiping the I.D. card at the Vault, "In three, two-"

X.x.X


End file.
